Halloween
by darkestboy
Summary: Adventures in all of time and space. Spoilers for Doctor who, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and K9.


Halloween

**Characters:** 1st Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Vicki, 2nd Doctor, Jamie Mc Crimmon, Victoria Wakefield, 3rd Doctor, Jo Grant, 4th Doctor, Adric, 5th Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, Nyssa, 6th Doctor, Peri Brown, 7th Doctor, Ace McShane, 8th Doctor, Charlotte Pollard, C'Rizz, 9th Doctor, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, 10th Doctor, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, 11th Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Ianto Jones, Suzie Costello, Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer, K9, Professor Alistair Gryffen, Darius Pike, Daleks, the Master, the Rani, Sontarans, Carrionites, the Corsair, Original Characters.  
**Synopsis:** A collection of spooky themed tales of Halloween from time and space.  
**Spoilers:** For all of _Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures _and _K9_.

Chapter 1

**Name:** Who Let The Weevils Out?  
**Characters**: Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Owen Harper, Toshiko Sato, Suzie Costello, Ianto Jones, Weevils.  
**Synopsis:** Stuck inside the Hub on a dull night, Gwen gets the gang to open up about a previous mishap during the Halloween before she joined the team. Set in between _Greeks Bearing Gifts _and _They Keep Killing Suzie_.

"I am so bored." Owen Harper exclaimed for the fourth time in the space of fifteen minutes as he tossed a soft rubber ball against the wall, catching it expertly but annoying Ianto in the process.

"If you say you're bored one more time," Ianto harrumphed as he made his way to cleaning up the Chinese takeout they had all eaten about twenty minutes before. "I swear to God, I am going to lock you in the cell with a Weevil for a week. If you last that long."

"I'd love to see you try." Owen winked at Ianto, tossing the ball and knocking the leftovers the coffee boy had been picking up out of his hands. "He shoots, he scores."

"You idiot," Ianto shouted, picking up a sweeping brush. Owen dodged the first attempted strike to his head but the second one got him at the back of his ear and a rather feminine hand prevented Ianto from a third attempt.

"I go away for five minutes and you two are trying to kill each other?" Toshiko Sato smirked at the two of them.

"Very mature, guys," Jack said, as he strode in and stood beside Toshiko. "What's the ruckus about? Don't I pay you two to work?"

"He started it." Owen childishly proclaimed. "I told him I was bored. He made no effort to entertain me."

"Since when was 'children's entertainer' on my list of duties?" Ianto shot back, giving Owen a dirty look.

"We pay you way too much." Owen smirked as Ianto went to hurl the broom at him for a fourth time. Gwen took the broom off Ianto.

"Before we send Owen to A&E, maybe we could do something less destructive instead?" Gwen suggested.

"Such as?" Owen scoffed at the former policewoman holding the broom. He bit the urge to goad Gwen because unlike Ianto, Owen reckoned Gwen could actually do him some serious injury with a broom.

"I don't know – what did you lot do on last Halloween, before I joined?" Gwen put the broom to a corner and sat at her desk with Jack behind her.

"You really want to know?" Jack looked at Gwen in surprise. "How bored are you?"

"So bored, I'm this close to going home and getting Rhys to scare away kids from the door, so enlighten me – any of you," Gwen shot back as she glanced at Jack, Owen, Ianto and Toshiko, all of whom looked at her awkwardly.

"Come on, it's not like there's anything else going on right now." Gwen insisted. "It's practically dead tonight. Prove to me that not all Halloweens are alien free nights."

"Fine," Jack said as he dimmed the lights and flashed a torch. "Prepare to be terrified."

"Goodie!" Gwen actually squealed in delight, much to her embarrassment. "Uh, maybe I do need to get out more."

_Cardiff, October 2005_

Suzie Costello had been testing the systems all day when everyone else wasn't looking. It was easy to fool Owen and Ianto but sometime Jack and Toshiko would give her the odd look and she wondered if she was rumbled but she continued nonetheless when she wasn't working on her other special project.

A button flicked and suddenly a row of cell down the lower decks of the Hub began to open. They were escaping and Suzie made damn sure to at least let one of them scratch her so she had an alibi.

"Suzie!" She had heard the voice of Jack Harkness as she came to down in the cell where a Weevil named Janet had 'attacked' her. "What the hell happened?"

"The system's been acting up, I thought I had it under control," Suzie stuttered as she allowed herself to be helped up by Jack. "I thought I had it under control, Jack."

"What have I told you about coming down here unarmed?" Jack pressed Suzie against the corner of a wall, giving her the once over. "It doesn't look like anything more than a few cuts and bruises but I'll get Owen to give you a look over just to be safe."

"He'll love that," Suzie said dryly as she gently pushed Jack back a little for some personal space. "Shouldn't the priority be the Weevils?"

"On it," Jack said as he helped Suzie out of the cells and back up in the main area of the Hub. "Owen, look after her and then follow me. Toshiko, Ianto, you're with me now."

Suzie watched as Jack, Ianto and Toshiko took their leave from the Hub and smiled thinly. Owen had turned his back to get the medical kit and under her breath, Suzie muttered...

"Happy Halloween."

Jack, Toshiko and Ianto had been lucky – luckier than usual when it came to Torchwood. The Weevils all seemed drawn to one place – an old church. The four that had escaped were huddled together and for a moment, Jack thought they were praying.

"Gently does it guys," Jack entered the church through the back with Toshiko and Ianto behind him. "No need to draw attention to ourselves."

A Weevil turned around, spotted the three intruders and roared, baring its teeth furiously at them as it prepared for an attack.

"A bite late for that, Jack," Toshiko stammered nervously as a Weevil came lunging towards her. Jack and Ianto were cut off from aiding her as the remaining three blocked them and prepared for an attack of their own.

It had taken them a good thirty minutes but amidst the shoves against walls, altars, each other and a few cuts and bruises here and there, Torchwood had emerged the victors in this battle. The Weevils were rounded back into the SVU, sedated and within an hour, each gently placed back in their cells.

As Owen tended to both Toshiko and Ianto, Jack and Suzie remained down in the cell, not looking at each other but the Weevil known as Janet sleeping in her cell. There were plenty of things Jack wanted to ask his second in command but wondered if now were the right time to do so. Maybe he was wrong and Suzie had been telling him the truth but in the back of his mind, Jack doubted it somehow. Either way, Suzie was giving nothing away when she turned to face him.

"I'll make sure nothing like this ever happens again." Suzie smiled a smile that appeared to promise loyalty but Jack wondered nonetheless.

"You do that." Jack folded his arms, trying not to give too much away. "How are we with the Risen Mitten?"

"Ianto and his nicknames." Suzie laughed half heartedly. "Ten seconds record but we're getting there."

"Good to know." Jack looked at her. "You should head home. It looks like we've had our excitement for one night."

"Nothing exciting happens on Halloween," Suzie replied, scepticism dripping through her voice and for the first time tonight, a trace of honesty too.

"You'd be surprised." Jack watched as Suzie took her leave. He had had plenty of fun filled and terrifying Halloweens and while rounding up four Weevils with Ianto and Toshiko might have been lighter by comparison, the scratches on his face and chest proved that it was no picnic either.

"That's it?" Gwen asked, clearly not as impressed as Jack thought she would be. Ianto had seen this as a perfect moment to put back on the lights.

"You disappointed?" Owen asked in a sarcastic tone. Gwen shot him a withering look.

"You more or less described to me the alien equivalent of an average Saturday night, apart from Suzie bit." Gwen shifted uncomfortably when she mentioned Suzie and everyone picked up on it.

"I think it's nice." Toshiko interrupted and everyone else gave her a weird look. "Well, think about it. We spend the rest of the year stopping aliens so to have one night where we're not risking our lives has to be welcomed."

"Toshiko has a point." Jack said, breaking a silence in the room. "And seeing as nothing is going to happen tonight, I'd say we all head home and be back here early tomorrow night."

"Or we could go to the pub?" Owen chirped in and for the first time tonight, he said something that was welcome by all.

As they switched their systems down, packed up and headed out of the Hub to a pub within walking distance, Gwen looked around, taking in the calm state of the night and sighed a bit of relief.

_Toshiko was right. Maybe one night of the year where we're not in danger is essential. Tonight's as good as any._

- The End -

Chapter 2

**Name:** Trick Or Treat  
**Characters: **6th Doctor, Peri Brown, The Master, The Rani, Other Characters.  
**Synopsis: **As the Doctor and Peri are drawn to a mystery village, the Rani engages in a Halloween custom, much to the Master's annoyance. Set between _Revelation Of The Daleks_ and _The Mysterious Planet_.

"I love this planet," the Master sneered as the young woman who dutifully served him dinner had stabbed herself faithfully for his own amusement. "It's almost as if this dull bunch of apes beg to be taken over."

"I'm glad you're having fun." The Rani looked at the bleeding girl with little more than disdain. The girl was seconds from death and yet the Rani felt nothing for her. "But thanks to your showing off, we now have a problem."

The Master raised his eyebrow and then looked at the sphere that the Rani had placed down the table. In the sphere, he saw a blue box. The occupants of that box were still the same – a squawking American girl and her mentor, a badly dressed curly blond haired man. The Master smirked with delight.

"I knew they'd come." The Master rubbed his hands with glee. "Ever predictable as always, Doctor."  
"Of course you'd know." The Rani folded her arms in total irritation of the man she had to share the drab little home with while her TARDIS was repairing itself. "You contrived this little encounter like you always do."

"At least one of us has a sense of adventure," the Master snapped at the disapproving Time Lady. "If it were up to you, we'd be playing with humans as toy soldiers for the rest of our time here."

"They're easier to control." The Rani tutted as she gave the Master a withering look. "The Doctor isn't."

"Makes it more fun though." The Master ran his finger of his TCE and looked at the Rani, who raised an eyebrow. "If I wanted you dead, I would've killed you in your TARDIS after you broke that embryo's neck."

"Aren't I lucky girl?" The Rani upped her level of sarcasm further than she expected to. "Being stuck with a distinguished gentlemen who doesn't kill me, yet constantly sabotages my experiments by attracting that menace every time."

"Don't be such a misery guts," the Master snarled as he took his long coat and began to leave the house. "Carry on with your 'experiments' all you like. I, on the other hand have a Doctor to see."

"Don't hurry back." The Rani shouted as she slammed the door but the Master had ignored her and realising that there was still the matter of a dead girl on the floor, the Rani sighed in frustration.

All she had to do was hope that the Doctor and the Master would destroy each other and when her TARDIS was repaired, she would be able to leave this awful town and go to a place where she could actually get her work done in peace. _A chance would be a fine thing._

Peri had a growing knot in her stomach as her and the Doctor entered the village and for Peri, this wasn't a first time experience. Everywhere she seemed to land nowadays, the element of danger was never far behind.

"Something the matter?" The Doctor looked at his companion, noticing her unease as they were within the town centre and the locals were eyeing them with mistrust and fear.

"What do you think?" Peri kept her eyes on a group of men by a corner. "Every time we land somewhere, it's not five minutes before both our lives end up being threatened."

"Don't be such a pessimist," the Doctor replied louder than he expected. "I'm sure there's nothing wrong here at all."

"Then where are we?" Peri asked.

"Stockbridge, my fair Peri." A familiar voice called out. Both the Doctor and Peri turned around to see a familiar but overdressed enemy standing there. "And on today of all days, you decide to come here."

"I should've known it was you." The Doctor regarded the Master with a tone that reeked of little surprise. "You do enjoy being so predictable, don't you?"

"As do you." The Master looked at Peri with disdain. "I see you haven't traded the lovely Miss Brown in then."

"My eyes are up here." Peri pointed at the Master when she noticed that he was staring somewhere else for too long. The tint of anger in Peri's voice was enough for the Master to know that he made her skin crawl. The Master smiled in victory, irritating both the Doctor and Peri in rapid succession.

"Last time we met, you had an ally – the Rani." The Doctor tried to keep things on an even level but he realised that the villagers were beginning to surround them now. "Where is she?"

Before the Master could answer the question, a TARDIS shaped like a wigwam materialised in the centre of the town. Out stepped the Rani and with her, a device was in her hands. She looked at her fellow Time Lords and the American girl with an icy hostility.

"I believe that's my ride out of here." The Master turned to enter the Rani's TARDIS but was sent flying back by an energy wave as were the Doctor and Peri and some of the villagers that were near them.

"Sorry, change of plan," the Rani smiled for the first time in a long while. "While you've been playing with your puppet villagers, my TARDIS has repaired itself and it doesn't like stowaways on board, so you're going nowhere, which shouldn't be an unfamiliar feeling for you, come to think of it."

"You're not leaving me here." The Master raised his TCE towards the Rani but she produced a ray gun and blasted it into pieces whilst managing not to blow the Master's hand off at the same time. "You bit–"

"- That's no way to talk in front of a lady." The Rani smirked as she looked at both the Doctor and the Master with satisfaction.

"I think you stopped being a lady a long time ago," Peri muttered as the Rani sneered in her direction.

"Like I'd take the opinion of an Earthling seriously." The Rani glanced at Peri before diverting her attention back to both the Doctor and the Master. "Still I do quite like the idea of Halloween."

"Of all the days." The Doctor realised what the Master had said to him earlier. "That's where you've brought me back to – Halloween in Stockbridge?"

"Got a problem with that?" The Master raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean you like the 'idea of Halloween'?" Peri asked nervously, knowing deep down that she was not going to like whatever answer the spiteful Time Lady would give her.

"This idiotic planet has a day where you can be tricked or treated." The Rani made no effort to hide her glee. "For you lot, there's an angry bunch of villagers closing in on you, ready to kill you at my behest. It'll be tricky for you but for me, it'll be a treat to see from far away in my TARDIS."

"You will pay for this." The Master gritted his teeth and stared at the woman with contempt. "No-one fools the Master and survives."

"I think right now we're meant to be worrying about our own survival, rather than hers." Peri interrupted them as the villagers began to lunge on them.

"I think you might be right, Peri." The Doctor grabbed her hand and headed for the direction where he hoped the Rani had left an antidote for their current situation. "Run!"

The Rani smirked as she closed the doors of her TARDIS and took off. She wanted desperately to believe that the Doctor, Master and the annoying human girl would be ripped apart like a pumpkin's insides on Halloween but she knew that deep down, the chances of all three of them surviving were far too high. Still, it provided enough of a distraction for her to finally escape from the lot of them and with any lucky, it might have provided enough of an incentive for both Time Lords to keep their distances from her in future. The Rani could only hope for that.

- The End -

Chapter 3

**Name: **Death Of The Corsair  
**Characters:** 11th Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Williams, Melody Pond/River Song, Idris/TARDIS, The Corsair, Auntie, Uncle, Nephew and House.  
**Synopsis:** The Doctor rarely dreams but when he dreams of the Corsair's final hours of life, his own fears for Amy and Rory's future with him also grow. Set between _Night Terrors _and _The Girl Who Waited_.

It had been a mad couple of adventures in the TARDIS for the Doctor. In the last while, he had met Hitler, battled the Tesselecta and the Peg Dolls, brought another family back together and had become more perplexed by River than he ever cared to. He had promised Amy and Rory a holiday and a Halloween party in Salem 2011 had done wonders.

Not only had the evening gone without even so much as the TARDIS being egged by overenthusiastic trick or treating kids but they had managed to go to some point in time for four hours without a life or death situation occurring. Even Rory had boasted how impressed he was with that feat.

The Doctor took a look at Amy and Rory. They were back in their bedrooms with baby Melody, showing her the wonders of sweets that she was way too young to eat, though the Doctor suspected that if Melody could talk, she would not be best pleased with being dressed up as a pumpkin. Again, the inevitable was being put off by all of them and the Doctor decided to put it off further by going into his own study.

He sat in the study, trying to read a good Edgar Allen Poe but his mind wasn't in the mood to be chilled by a great author, so he put the book down and looked at another thing on the growing list of things he had been avoiding.

"Corsair." The Doctor picked up the cube, the very device that had led him to House and almost got him killed in the first place. The very thing that had almost got his TARDIS killed, who was now dressed as Idris again and staring at him.

"You want to know, don't you?" Idris picked up the cube and examined it. "How he died."

"I must be dreaming." The Doctor stood up from his chair and took the cube off Idris as he gave her the once over. "The last time we said -,"

"- Hello, Doctor," Idris said serenely. "Or more I did. Words are better in the right order – sometimes."

"Are you dying again?" The Doctor asked in a serious tone.

"No, I am not dying and yes, you are dreaming. Dreaming of me, dreaming of them and dreaming of him." Idris took the cube off the Doctor and examined it again before handing it back to him.

"Him? You mean, the Corsair?"

"I met him." Idris admitted. "Well, this body met him briefly. She felt a pang of sorrow when he died, almost as if a part of her had died too and that was before House ate another one of my sisters."

"Show me." The Doctor looked into Idris's eyes intently as he picked up the cube and she smiled softly. Soon both of them tilted their heads back and they witnessed ...

_The Corsair had travelled the universe searching for one man. A man whose very existence had renewed him with a sense of hope because if he was still alive, then surely more Time Lords would be alive. He would no longer be the last of his kind._

"There's a girl, find him for me," the Corsair smiled as he tried to get his TARDIS to sniff out the Doctor's more antiquated of vessels. After all, only the Doctor would be daft enough to travel in a Type 40 and there weren't many of them around nowadays, never mind the Time Lords.

Tracking the Doctor had proved to be fruitless for the time being but suddenly, the Corsair noticed that his own machine had gotten very excited and the Corsair raised.

"What is it, girl? Is it him?"

The Corsair could've kicked himself. He might have had an advanced TARDIS but not to the extent where he could indulge in conversations with it. Sometimes he wondered if he could though – talk to his machine properly. The signal the TARDIS had picked up was strong and the Corsair followed the signal to the furthest edge of the universe before landing on an asteroid.

"Here goes nothing." The Corsair looked around his machine nervously. He decided to change his clothes. For all his knew, he could be on a leisure planet, so he decided to dress smart for the occasion.

The Corsair looked at himself in a tuxedo and twirled around, impressed. He had a long white scarf as well as a cane to complete the overall look.

"I look ever so handsome, oh yes I do."

The Corsair smiled at the effort he made and only hoped that when he clapped eyes on the Doctor, he could get a final explanation about the Time War as well as the Doctor's forgiveness. More than anything, the Corsair wanted to be forgiven.

"Why does he want forgiveness?" The Doctor looked quizzically at his old friend brooding for a moment before deciding to exit his TARDIS.

"Because he ran away." Idris observed. "But he wasn't the only one of your kind to do so, was he?"

"No, there were others," the Doctor replied grimly, thinking of the Master and the Rani before his thoughts went to Susan and Romana. "And then there were the ones who disappeared before then."

_The voice in the air as the Corsair stepped out of his TARDIS for some reason gave him a chill at the back of his spine. There was something not right with this world._

"You are welcome, Corsair." House greeted the strapping Time Lord in a serene tone.

"Where am I exactly?" The Corsair looked around as a strange man grabbed his left arm and a strange red haired woman grabbed his right.

"You are with me. I am everywhere. I am House."

"You're this world?" The Corsair raised an eyebrow. From his periphery, he noticed a Victorian dressed woman examining broken bits of machinery with fascination.

"House is all around us." Uncle replied, as he bore a smile. The Corsair had to admit that the older man's breath stank to high heaven.

"House is most kind." Auntie smiled as she dragged the Corsair with such a force away from his TARDIS as Uncle ably helped her along. "He keeps us going."

"I think I should go back to my ship." The Corsair tried to break free from the mad people's grips but they were too strong and the broken Ood was now standing outside the TARDIS.

"The ship is the least of your worries." House's tone took a turn for the sinister. "You have an appointment."

"What do you mean an appointment?" The Corsair realised that apart from a green mist that seemed to heading in the direction of his ship, he was more or less talking to thin air. "You tricked me."

"I did nothing of the sort." House lied, before admitting. "Perhaps I did. It's usually just your ship that I need but my friends – they're falling apart you see and you seem adequate enough to repair them. More than by the looks of it."

"What do you mean?" The Corsair managed to get out before he realised that Auntie and Uncle were no longer holding him. Instead as he turned around, Auntie had smacked him full force in the face with the cane he had been carrying and rendered him unconscious.

"Are you sure you want to see the rest of this?" Idris asked the Doctor. She could see the anger and sadness burning in his soul.

"Keep going." The Doctor didn't even look at her. Idris paused for a moment and then it continued.

_You came looking for the Doctor?" House queried. "I only wanted your ship. Only one of us wins. There's always at least one winner and that's me."_

The Corsair had been strapped down to an operating table tightly and was now gagged with the white scarf he had worn. Struggling against the straps, his eyes filled with horror as Auntie advanced towards him with a power saw.

"You won't need a doctor my love," Auntie sneered as she drew in closer to him. Uncle gripped his hair and looked at the Time Lord's eyes. They were a beautiful colour. Along with this man's spine, Uncle thought he would help himself to his eyes too. "This'll only hurt for a moment."

As the Corsair screamed his last through the gag in horror, House had used another stranger to extract the soul of the Time Lord's TARDIS before feasting on the vessel himself.

The Doctor jolted away in horror and found himself awake. Idris still stood there.

"I am sorry, my thief." Idris meant her sentiment with the utmost sincerity. Before the Doctor could respond, Idris faded away and he was once again, alone in his study.

"He was looking for me." The Doctor muttered aloud as he placed the cube back down and got up from his seat.

He spied on Amy and Rory playing happy families with Melody and realised that it was time for them to go home. He was tired of putting people in harm's way and the ones who looked for him seem to be the ones getting hurt. It was time for that to change and it was time for his friends to finally go home.

- The End -

Chapter 4

**Name: **Meaning Of The Night  
**Characters:** 1st Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright, Vicki.  
**Synopsis: **Halloween means a lot to everyone but the Doctor himself is more perplexed by the night of the between _The Rescue_ and _The Romans_.  
It was an interesting night to be had by all. That was what the flyer posted on the TARDIS had said and Vicki could tell from the Doctor's facial expression that he wasn't impressed with his machine being vandalised. The Doctor as old and as wise as he was did at times have a bit of a temper and also sometimes needed the basics explained to him. It seemed that as part of those basics, Halloween was one of them and they had landed in London in the year 2005, according to the TARDIS.

"Are you really saying you've never heard of it?" Vicki asked the Doctor in surprise.

"Why does that surprise you, child?" The Doctor sounded tetchy but he wasn't actually affronted by the young woman's question – more perplexed by it instead.

"I have to admit, even I'm a little shocked by you not knowing." Barbara had entered Vicki's sleeping area with a tray of tea and biscuits with Ian swiftly following her inside. "Especially considering how history factors into it."

"Must have busy that day." The Doctor took his tea and three biscuits that were on the plate. "Thank you my dear."

"What exactly did the flyer say?" Ian queried as Vicki passed him the very thing that had engineered the discussion of Halloween. He looked at the flyer with interest. "A Spook-Tacular Night To Be Had All (Souls)." It's a little cheesy but it does get the message across."

"Yes, Chesterton, but what message exactly?" The Doctor seemed genuinely curious now. "Do people enjoy being scared?"

"They wouldn't if they met a Dalek," Barbara said to herself before taking the flyer to look at closer herself. "But I suppose we all like a good scare as a child, whether its ghost stories or horror movies. Safe ones."

The Doctor again looked a little perplexed by the conversation, so Barbara sat down on a chair and looked at him evenly. "With Halloween, there are all these myths, traditions and folklore but for those who are Vicki's age and younger, it's more about dressing up in scary costumes and getting treats from neighbours."

"I used to like the toffee apples my mother's friend used to prepare all day." Ian smiled as his mind wandered for a moment. "Though I'm surprised I still have my own teeth, considering how sweet those things were."

For a moment, the Doctor nearly laughed but managed to restrain himself from doing so and then he looked at Vicki. "Maybe we should do that then."

"What, go trick or treating?" Vicki asked with bemusement.

"Well, it is Halloween, isn't it?" The Doctor got up. He had that look on his face, the same look that Ian, Barbara and even Vicki knew that he meant business. They was no way that any of them stood a chance of talking him out of it.

"Well, this should be an interesting experiment." Ian headed for the door as he glanced at the Doctor. "Got any costumes?"

"So glad you asked, my boy." The Doctor smiled, almost a little too excitedly for everyone else's tastes.

"Yeah, Ian, so glad you asked." Barbara didn't know whether she was in for a night of high entertainment or utter embarrassment, though knowing the Doctor, it could go both ways as well.

The Doctor hadn't lied when he said he had costumes for them to wear for Halloween. In fact, he had so many of them, that he would've put every costume shop in Great Britain alone out of business if ordinary citizens knew of them.

Upon a small remark from Barbara, the Doctor had elected to dress as Sherlock Holmes while Vicki had gone for a flowery, flowing dress that made her look rather fairy like. Ian had decided to dress as a gorilla, much to everyone's amusement and Barbara decided on a Roman look to complete the group.

"My, don't we look a pair?" The Doctor smiled admiringly as everyone had stepped out of the TARDIS in costume. "Which house should we go to first?"

"How about that one? It looks awfully posh." Vicki pointed towards a certain building and when Ian and Barbara had given her a certain look, Vicki seemed genuinely confused. "What?"

"Nothing," Ian replied as he tried to keep a straight face.

"Is there something wrong with this place?" Vicki asked Barbara, who also tried to keep a straight face.

"No, nothing at all. This house it is." Barbara smiled as she led the way. Of all the places to turn up to trick or treat, even she didn't expect to wind up at 10 Downing Street.

_Trust the Doctor to make something so straightforward into an adventure._

- The End -

Chapter 5

**Name: **Dracula  
**Characters**: 3rd Doctor, Jo Grant, Count Dracula, Other Characters.  
**Synopsis:** When the Doctor and Jo get an invitation from the infamous Count Dracula, their curiosity to prove his existence places them both in danger. Set between _The Three Doctors_ and _Carnival Of Monsters_.

Jo Grant liked to think that being with the Doctor had often done wonders for her curiosity. It might have sometimes gotten her in a lot of trouble, more so than before she had met her friend but it also made her more aware of what the universe had to offer and it also made sure that something as simple as an invitation could be regarded as suspect too.

"I mean, Count Dracula, really?" Jo looked at the invitation again with a certain wariness, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was reading. "We're not really going to go, are we Doctor?"

"Why not?" The Doctor had been trying on evening coats from his room but with Jo's voice, he didn't miss a word that was being said during the time. "I quite fancy meeting this Count Dracula, don't you?"

"I'm not sure if fancy is the word I'd use." Jo admitted to herself.

As the Doctor stepped out from his room and back into the control, Jo had her arms folded and gave him a sceptical look.

"What?" The Doctor tried to act innocent but Jo saw right through the act. "You have me then. Not much gets past you, Jo."

"Not quite the dippy dolly bird everyone assumes I am." Jo said but the comment hadn't been directed at the Doctor. Earlier in the day, she overheard some office types mocking her and while she had given them what for, it still wasn't completely out of her system. "You want to find out if he's the genuine article, don't you?"

"I don't believe for a second that the Count is genuine at all." The Doctor picked up the invitation and read it under his breath. "But he has attracted a lot of interest and I doubt he sent us an invite without purpose."

"What kind of attention?" Jo was curious. She remembered that there had been some talk at UNIT about attention being attracted but before she could ask any question, one of the odious office types had shooed her out of the room.

"Certain experts in alien activities have met with this 'Count Dracula' in the last few weeks and have gone missing as a result." The Doctor set the controls for Transylvania. "That's what Mr Odin and his little acolytes were so keen on you not knowing. Felt it wasn't a woman's place or some nonsense to that effect."

"Progressive, aren't they?" Jo said in a withering voice.

"They were when I was finishing highlighting their inability to find their way out of a paper bag," the Doctor said to his companion. "And that you had more alien experiences in three years than they've had in thirty. Odin's face in particular was looking rather beetroot towards the end of the meeting."

Would've liked to have seen that." Jo smiled at the Doctor. She was more than able to defend herself but it was nice that he had real confidence in her abilities and didn't just keep her to pass out test tubes.

"We've arrived." The Doctor paused for a moment as the TARDIS finished dematerialising at the house of the Count. "Time to meet our host."

"Transylvania?" Jo looked at the invitation one more time. "If he is a fake, at least he's done his homework, though why he chose Halloween of all days seems a bit much."

"A little too much." The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and found himself promptly greeted by a man who dressed like anyone else's interpretation of the infamous character would've done.

"Doctor." Count Dracula actually spoke with a thickly false Romanian accent as he turned to shake the Time Lord's hand. "I have been expecting you."

"Yes, I bet you have." The Doctor shook the vampire's hand with reluctant. His hand was freezing, which added a little more to the authenticity of a vampire but the Doctor couldn't help shaking his scepticism off that easily. "How do you do?"

"I am well but all the better for you seeing you, my dear." The Doctor realised that Dracula wasn't talking to him now. Instead he was focused on Jo and not only did the Count shake his hand, he kissed it as well. For a moment, Jo blushed but quickly regained her composure.

"Are you really Dracula?" Jo blurted out immediately before the Doctor gave her a look. "Well, someone had to ask."

"I'm sure the 'Count' has been asked that question many a time." The Doctor said with a certain trepidation. "You have to excuse my friend."

"No, she is quite right to ask." Dracula smiled, before he turned on both the Doctor and Jo with a malignant smile. "But there is no point in lying to you both."

The Doctor didn't have time to be surprised. Suddenly, three vampire girls had crept up from behind them and restrained them tightly.

"If you're not a vampire, then what are you?" Jo struggled with the vampire girl holding onto her. Two of them were gripping the Doctor.

"I didn't say I wasn't a vampire." Count Dracula smiled. "I just didn't add that I wasn't of this world."

"What world are you from?" The Doctor asked as a kick towards the back of his knees from one of the girls made him hit the floor. He was still held on tightly by them. "I know of your species but not from where you're from. Interesting that."

"It's long lost," Dracula said in a cool manner as he walked around the Doctor and Jo, eyeing them both up and down, deciding which one of them he would drink from first. "But this is an interesting world. One where you have legends of creatures similar to my species. Creatures that drink blood."

"And that's what you're going to do to us?" Jo continued too struggle with the vampire girl holding on to her. "Drink from us?"

"Actually, yes and no." Dracula smiled, this time bearing his fangs as he turned his head towards the Doctor. "I'm going to drink from you, Doctor."

"I should warn you, I'm not -," the Doctor was interrupted from a smack to the head by one of the vampire girls holding on to him.

"- Human?" Dracula smiled with delight. "I know. You're a Time Lord, a tedious race of know-it-all bores but when you've spent the last fifty years on this planet drinking from just plain humans; it's nice to have some variety. Even those scientific advisors and alien experts I called out for tasted bland in the end. I don't think you will though."

"How very nice of you." The Doctor muttered in annoyance. "You know I won't give myself freely, don't you?"

"Not a problem for me." Dracula bore his fangs completely before lunging towards the Doctor.

"Get away from him." Jo kicked the vampire girl and freed herself but Dracula shoved her away when she tried to pull him off the Doctor.

The Doctor tried to cry out but Dracula ignored him, sinking his fangs into the Time Lord's neck and tasting his blood. Dracula recoiled in horror as he let go of the Time Lord and look at both the Doctor and Jo in horror.

"Treachery." Dracula could feel his entire body breaking down. "You, you -,"

Before their eyes, the alien that had posed as Count Dracula had disintegrated before them. He looked at the Doctor and Jo with horror and confusion and had realised that defeat had fallen onto him.

"What did you do?" One of the vampire girls asked as the Doctor and Jo helped each other up.

"Veluvian fluid." The Doctor produced a small vial from his coat pocket and showed it to them. "A danger to the Racken Tribe if I'm not mistaken."

"Racken Tribe?" Jo asked as she took the vial and looked at it before giving it back to the Doctor.

"Harmless to almost every species in the universe, except the Racken." The Doctor looked at the three vampire girls. "I apologise for what had to be done."

"You murdered our leader." Another of the vampire girls spoke out in fury. "You will not leave this castle alive."

"You can't kill us." Jo held up the vial that she took off the Doctor again. "We've got this -,"

Jo let out a whimper when one of the vampire girls lunged her to the floor and knocked the vial out of her hands.

"Get off me," Jo grunted as she struggled with the vampire woman again.

"Stop him." The woman turned briefly to her sisters as the Doctor ran to retrieve the vial from the ground before turning her attention back to Jo, bearing her teeth and ready to kill. "This is for my leader."

"I don't think so." Jo kicked the vampire off her with a full force of her heel that the Racken didn't have enough to realise that she had been grabbed by the Doctor who held her long enough to drink from the vial.

Pushing the Doctor away, the female Racken looked at him and Jo with pure hatred as she disintegrated into nothing as her leader had done only minutes before.

"I'm going to give you a chance." The Doctor turned to the two remaining Racken women that were standing there. "Leave this planet and never return."

"Doctor." Jo tried to interrupt but the Doctor ignored her.

"Because if you do, there will be nowhere safe for you to hide. I promise you both that." The Doctor's face looked thunderous with rage as he thought of the alien experts and other people that 'Dracula' and his followers had murdered to sate their thirst. "Before I change my mind."

For a moment, the two remaining followers looked at the Doctor and wondered if they should try to challenge him but the thought faded after a moment and then both of them touched the shiny necklaces they had. Within seconds, both women disappeared from the building, leaving just the Doctor and Jo there alone.

"Where are they gone?" Jo asked, looking at the Doctor. His face was still stony but he turned to his companion and frowned a little.

"Somewhere new." The Doctor looked at the vial bottle. It was empty and it dawned on Jo why he gave the remaining two a chance to leave. He had no choice.

"Will they ever come back to Earth?"

"Someday, they might." The Doctor placed the empty vial back in his pocket. "This world isn't the only one with humans but it does seem to be the one that attracts the attention of creatures like the Racken. I don't think we've seen the last of them."

"Which means they won't have seen the last of us." Jo placed her arm around the Doctor's and decided to lead him back to the TARDIS. "Come on. We've got one hell of a report to fill out and I don't think the Brigadier is going to give us the night off because it's Halloween."

"No, I don't suppose he will, Jo." The Doctor smiled at his companion as he opened the door of the TARDIS. "Though I suppose we've solved the mystery of Dracula's true existence for now at least."

"I wonder." Jo murmured as she took a last glimpse of the castle and stepped inside the strange police box.

As the TARDIS door closed and the machine faded away, a man who had been watching them had stepped out from the shadows and looked at the mess of his beloved castle. The imposter had caused him a lot of damage and the carelessness of his dispatching of the other humans meant that he would have to tread carefully from now. Unlike the pitiful excuse of a Racken who had dared to use his name, the real Count Dracula did not want the publicity or that pesky Time Lord to ever darken his castle again.

- The End-

Chapter 6

**Name; **Fall Of The Carrionites  
**Characters: **10th Doctor, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Lilith, Mother Doomfinger, Mother Bloodtide, Original Characters.  
**Synopsis:** When three of the Carrionites escape and take Martha as prisoner, the Doctor and Donna are forced to journey to the one place in time where witches were burned on the stake. However, the Carrionites have their own plan to change history when they prey on the town of Salem. Set between _Forest Of The Dead_ and _Midnight_.

The light that had shone in the TARDIS had been enough to set them free. The light that had shone in the TARDIS had also brought the Doctor and his companions to their knees. The woman known as Lilith had gazed upon the mysterious vessel with delight and looked at her former home.

When she tried to pick up the crystal containing the rest of her sisters, a bolt from the crystal itself nearly took her arm off, so she went for the next best option.

"Take her." Lilith pointed towards Martha and with ready obedience; both Mothers Doomfinger and Bloodtide seized the barely conscious girl.

Donna attempted to make a grab towards Lilith but was shoved aside as the Doctor had gotten possession of the crystal and looked at Lilith. For the first time, she saw something in the back of those eyes that made her a little uncomfortable. For a man who saved people, there was certainly darkness there and it was one that Lilith was going to exploit to her advantage, anyway she possibly could.

"My sisters for your companion, Doctor." Lilith blew the Doctor a kiss as she joined her sisters and chanted fast enough for them all to disappear with Martha in their custody. "Hurry, she doesn't have long."

"Where did they go?" Donna asked as she regained her footing. The Doctor didn't answer her, spending his effort trying to taste the scent that had been left behind from the Carrionites disappearing act. "Now's not the time to get coy, Doctor. They've got Martha."

"Don't you think I know that?" The Doctor snapped at Donna and instantly regretted it, before he licked a piece of paper that was then scanned into the monitor. "Gotcha."

"Doctor!" Donna turned to look at the monitor. "You managed to do that by licking a piece of paper?"

"Not exactly." The Doctor admitted. "Lilith left a little trail for us to follow with some residual radiation, harmless stuff but enough to give the TARDIS enough direction as to where she's heading."

"And where's that?" Donna asked the Doctor, but he pointed at the monitor and she nearly gasped. "You have got to be kidding me. Why would any space witch alien want to go there?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." The Doctor set the control for the exact location Lilith had wanted them to go to. "But we've got to stop her before she unleashes chaos."

Martha landed with a thud as did the three aliens that were holding her captive. As Martha's first idea was to run, she was stopped in her tracks when Lilith got up off the ground first and grabbed Martha viciously by the arm.

"Going somewhere?" Lilith sneered as she held onto Martha rightly. Martha glared at her. "Oh, don't worry. I imagine your precious Doctor and that other woman aren't far behind. I did give them enough of a lead after all."

"Where exactly are we?" Martha looked around as Doomfinger and Bloodtide helped themselves up and surrounded her, ensuring that she had no means of escape.

Lilith smiled as she shoved Martha towards her sisters, who held onto her tightly and looked around the place with the utmost.

"We're in the late 1600s, Martha." Lilith's gaze was on the UNIT soldier/doctor now. "A time where magic was believed to be real. A time where innocent lives were lost but not anymore."

"What does that mean?" Martha struggled with Doomfinger and Bloodtide's grip on her arms.

"Time can be rewritten." Lilith said in a rather soothing voice. "The women that were persecuted during these times will become my allies."

"Our allies." Doomfinger corrected Lilith. "Remember, there are three of us in this."

"And many more when the Doctor releases our sisters." Lilith looked up at the sky and smiled.

"There's no way he's going to do that." Martha still struggled but noticed that Lilith wasn't paying attention to her. "What are you looking at?"

But it wasn't just Lilith looking up at the sky. Although Doomfinger and Bloodtide kept a tight hold onto Martha, they too were entranced by the sky. Martha felt something in the air and then she herself turned to look at the sky, a tint of purple and red and then it occurred to her. She had seen that before and it was recent when she had.

"That happened in the TARDIS," Martha gasped for a moment. "When you -,"

"- Escaped?" Lilith finished for her. "Yes, it did, didn't it? And to think, that was only a tiny occurrence in the TARDIS. Imagine what would happen if the crystal that imprisons our sisters was to touch the sky."

"I don't want to." Martha looked at Lilith coldly.

"On this All Hallows Night, our sisters will be freed." Bloodtide cackled in joy. Martha looked at her incredulously. The Carrionite had actually cackled.

"And this world will be ours." Lilith smiled as she noticed that in the town, there was a wooden pole where a witch could be burned. She then turned to Martha. "Time for you to fulfil your purpose."

"Get off me," Martha shouted as both Doomfinger and Bloodtide dragged her up to the pole and bound her tightly to it. She struggled with the ropes but Lilith just smirked at her. "I promise you right now, you won't succeed."

"And sleep." Lilith chanted softly as Martha succumbed to slumber. Lilith then turned to her sisters. "I think it's time we had a little fun my sisters. If these mindless peasants really believe and fear in witches, let's justify it, shall we?"

"Indeed." Doomfinger and Bloodtide said within unison as the three of them laid waste to the town of Salem.

The Doctor knew he had a tendency to get the timing wrong and although he had done his best not to fallen into the trap of getting to Lilith's whereabouts too late, that's exactly what had happened. As Donna went to open the door, the Doctor locked it and Donna turned around.

"What are you doing? Open it!" Donna looked at him in shock. "Doctor, this isn't funny."

"Donna, look!" The Doctor showed her the crystal with the rest of the Carrionites trapped inside of it. She noticed that the crystal seemed to glow brighter. "It's a trap."

"Of course, it's a trap." Donna looked at the Doctor. "We have something they want, they have something we want."

"If I step outside, Donna with this crystal, then things will get a whole lot worse." The Doctor put on the intercom, so that outside Lilith and her coven could hear them. "Isn't that right, Lilith?"

Donna went over to the monitor with the Doctor and both of them looked at the chaos that was ensuing outside. Villagers were dead, some were screaming in paranoia and fear and Martha was bound to a stake surrounded by at least five women with pitchforks who both the Doctor and Donna deduced were probably accused of being witches but weren't.

"Things already are bad, Doctor." Lilith stepped over the body of an elderly man who tried to shoot her with a shotgun. "But the death of Martha Jones will not be the only thing you have to fear. For once, time is not on your side. Come out or this world will die by the hands of three Carrionites. Don't come out and I promise, we will get inside that machine of yours."

"Don't listen to them, Doctor," Martha whispered wearily as Doomfinger and Bloodtide occasionally glanced at her when they weren't inciting chaos.

The Doctor switched off the monitor and turned to Donna. He handed her the crystal and because of that, she became worried.

"They'll kill you." Donna said in a slow voice.

The Doctor wanted to answer back, wanted to reassure her but the only thing he could do was to kiss her on the forehead and step out the machine, locking it from the outside to keep Donna safe.

"Spaceman." Donna muttered under her breath in fear as the rattling in the crystal seems to increase the tiniest bit.

"Smart move." Lilith smirked as she observed that Donna had not followed him out. "And you've decided to keep the other one safe."

"Her name's Donna." The Doctor said, producing a false crystal. "Now give me back my friend."

"My sisters first." Lilith said icily, eyeing up the glowing crystal. She couldn't hear any sound from it. "Then you can have your human."

"Her name is Martha."

The Doctor said nothing but threw the crystal straight at Lilith's stomach, winding her slightly. For the split second that she was down, he flicked his sonic screwdriver towards Martha's direction and loosened her restraints. Martha wasted no time dropping the ropes off her and rushing to the Doctor's aid. Lilith was back on her feet and fury was all over face.

"This is a false crystal." Lilith threw the crystal at the Doctor, which he caught deftly as he smirked at her. "Did you really think you could fool me?"

"Worked, didn't it?" Martha said. The Doctor opened the TARDIS and Martha stepped inside. "Don't do anything stupid."

"I think I already have." The Doctor smiled at his companion, closing the door, but before doing that, he motioned Donna to hand him the real crystal, which she did reluctantly.

"What's he doing?" Martha asked the other woman inside the TARDIS with her as the both of them went to look at the monitor.

"I have no idea." Donna could see the anger on Lilith's face. "But it better work."

"You want this back, don't you?" The Doctor held the crystal out for Lilith to reach. "You can have it, but I wouldn't throw it up to the heavens if I were you."

"And why's that?" Lilith sneered, purring as she could hear the voices of her sisters. Doomfinger and Bloodtide came to each side of her, staring at the crystal with delight. "Too late, Doctor."

"Don't say I didn't warn you." The Doctor stood back as Lilith tossed the crystal into the air where a bolt had caught it, causing the tiniest of cracks. Lilith smiled at the crack.

"It has come my sisters. Our time of reckoning. We shall rip this world a new one and change history. Tonight is the rise of the Carrionites."

Lilith felt that something wasn't right and as the crystal stayed perfectly in the air, refusing to come down, she saw the faintest of blue lights seeping out of the crack and it worried her. He had deceived them again.

"No." Lilith could feel her body being drawn to the air as both Doomfinger and Bloodtide were also lifted to the sky. "This cannot be. How can this be?"

"You got the timing wrong, Lilith." The Doctor folded his arms as he saw the three Carrionites being drawn to the crack in the crystal. "We passed through a piece of time and space in the vortex that gave you enough power to slip out of the crystal. But you came to the one place in time that had the opposite effect. You're going back where you belong."

"You'll suffer for this." Lilith screamed in anger, shooting a bolt that the Doctor managed to dodge, but only just. The three Carrionites screamed their last as they were consumed back into the crystal.

"Not this time."

The Doctor watched for a moment as the crack in the crystal repaired itself and then the crystal dropped and the Doctor caught it. He observed it for a moment before heading back into the TARDIS.

"Well, that was simpler than it looked." Martha hugged the Doctor when he stepped back into the spaceship. "Though you did take your time getting here."

"I knew you were going to be safe." The Doctor smiled at Martha reassuringly. "The Carrionites would've never been a match for Martha Jones."

"Now, that that's all over." Donna interrupted the Doctor and Martha and pointed at the crystal. "What are we going to do with that?"

"They'll be safe in here." The Doctor pointed at the crystal. "The sensitive is over. It closes itself in the end. In a roundabout kind of way."

"Sensitive?" Donna asked. "Earth girl, remember?"

"A small glimmer in time, usually faint but often it lets things that were previously concealed slip out. Usually there's an opposition where things get placed back in. Lilith took a wrong turn and went to the very place where she could be susceptible to being imprisoned again."

"Salem." Martha didn't bother to point out the obvious but she could tell that both the Doctor and Donna were thinking it too and then she realised something else. "Oh."

"Oh, what?" The Doctor looked at his companion.

"I just remember there's a Halloween party at UNIT that's about to start in an hour." Martha looked at both the Doctor and Donna. "Would be a nice way of capping the night off."

"I like your thinking." Donna smiled at Martha, before turning to the Doctor. "You heard her, spaceman, there's a party and I'm not missing out."

"Yes, ma'am."

The Doctor looked at both his companions before setting the co-ordinates for UNIT HQ. As Donna and Martha both headed off to get changed, the Doctor looked at the crystals with the Carrionites screaming vengeance inside and realised that some witches didn't Halloween to be bad, even if they nearly used the very day to try and change history.

- The End -

Chapter 7

**Name: **Hell Hath No Fury  
**Characters: **2nd Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon, Victoria Wakefield, Original Characters.  
**Synopsis:** The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria find themselves with a lonely man, abandoned on a space station for 100 years who wants this Halloween to be his last. Set in between _The Tomb Of The Cybermen_ and _The Abominable Snowmen_.

"Where are we going?" Victoria asked as the Doctor set the co-ordinates for the TARDIS.

"Not quite sure myself," the Doctor said as he saw that Victoria had changed her attire. "You've changed."

"Felt I needed to after the Cybermen and all." Victoria blushed a tiny bit. She had slipped back into one of her dresses. "Where's Jamie?"

"Right here." Jamie had snuck up behind her and then sandwiched himself in between Victoria and the Doctor, before turning to the latter. "So, where are we really going, Doctor?"

"You know me so well." The Doctor somewhat blushed in embarrassment before realising that Jamie had noticed a faint red bleeping light from the controls. "If you must know, someone is calling for our help."

"Our help?" Victoria looked confused, before spotting the faint red bleeping light herself. "What if it's a trap?"

"Only one way to find out." The Doctor winked at Victoria as the sound of dematerialisation filled the room. "We've landed."

"Victoria's got a point, Doctor." Jamie had picked up one of his swords. "After Telos, I'd rather not be taken by surprise."

"Fair enough, Jamie, we'll tread carefully." The Doctor relented with Jamie's choice of precaution. "But don't use that thing unless you really have to."

"Aye, Doctor." Jamie nodded in agreement as the Doctor and Victoria allowed him to step out of the TARDIS first. Jamie let out a sigh.

"What is it?" Victoria asked as she stepped out of the time machine, closely followed by the Doctor.

"It seems ... quiet." Jamie turned to look at both Victoria and the Doctor as he felt the tiniest of chills at the back of his spine.

"And that's bad?" Victoria said with a hint of trepidation in her voice. She too felt the tiniest of chills at the back of her spine.

"What do you think, Doctor?" Jamie noticed that the older man was surprisingly less vocal than the both of them.

"That we better not jump to conclusions and before you both ask, I feel that chill at the back of my spine too," the Doctor replied before noticing that there were only two ways to go inside the space station they had landed inside. "The only thing I can't decide is where to go."

"How about I take the right and you and Victoria take the left?" Jamie said, clutching tightly to his sword. "We meet back here in an hour?"

"Jamie," the Doctor replied in a somewhat higher pitch than he anticipated. "That's a good idea. One hour. Or if anything really is out of place, we -,"

"- Meet back sooner?" Victoria interrupted, a bit briskly. "Sorry, it's this place. It's just wrong. It's not just me, is it?"

"Yeah, I don't want to be here longer than I have to be either." Jamie admitted to both his friends. "One hour. Good luck."

"You too, Jamie." The Doctor headed for the left corridor. "Come on, Victoria."

As Victoria quickly followed the Doctor down the left corridor, Jamie looked at the TARDIS as if to make a mental note as to it's location before he headed down the right corridor, holding his sword and somewhat regretting that he suggested they split up. He should've insisted that they stayed together or that the Doctor or Victoria had taken some kind of a weapon with them. They weren't helpless but they weren't exactly highly trained warriors either. Still, with any luck, perhaps there would be nothing here and it would be an odd space station floating in the middle of space but Jamie doubted it. Places like this always had something lurking out and usually they made themselves known when it was least expected.

Anders had long gone mad, potty, doolally, loopy or what other terminology had been used on planet Earth for his current malaise. Sleep had meant nothing to him and starvation would've been a blessing but the sadists who stranded him here made damn sure that he was well stocked with food. Even Anders knew it would've been stupid not to have eaten the food that had been left for him. Those responsible for his current predicament had no desire to see him die of starvation. There wasn't enough suffering in death and they wanted him to suffer. Unfortunately for Anders, they were successful in that desire and then he saw a young man, unusually dressed, holding a sword whilst coming in his direction.

"No more." Anders screamed at the top of his lungs and lunged for the man. This was the last day he was going to spend on this ship.

"I don't like this, Doctor." Victoria admitted. "There's something about this place that feels off."

"I know what you mean." The Doctor looked up and saw that a recording was playing in a loop. The sound wasn't on but the images on screen were more than enough. "I think we should go and find Jamie."

"Doctor, I think he's found us." Victoria tapped the Doctor on the shoulder and the Time Lord turned around.

Jamie had been dragged in by the older man who had taken possession of the Scotsman's sword and was now brandishing it at the Doctor and Victoria. He eyed all three of them with contempt.

"You will help me or you will all die." Anders pointed the sword at all three of them, motioning them to keep their distance. "Where is your ship?"

"Jamie, are you alright?" Victoria looked at her friend and noticed that his cheek was swelling. She turned towards Anders with annoyance. "What have you done to him?"

"Your ship." Anders ignored her and pointed the sword towards the Doctor. "Funny man. You lot even dress up for Halloween. Is that some new form of torture?"

"New form of torture?" Jamie interrupted. "Hang on a sec, you're the one pointing sword at us. Where do you get off treating us like the villains here?"

Anders gave Jamie an icy glare before focusing his attention back to the Doctor with the sword. "Now."

"You'll have to forgive me, but I don't think I caught your name. You are?" The Doctor put out his hand to shake. "I'm the Doctor and this is Victoria and our friend there is Jamie but I suppose you already know that."

"You're a Conduit. You should know who I am by now." Anders glared at the trio with a sense of pride building up inside him, as it dawned on him. "Unless ... no, but that's impossible. You can't be?"

"We're not Conduits," Victoria replied before looking at Jamie. "What are Conduits?"

"No idea." Jamie admitted, before turning to the Doctor. "What are they?"

"They a secret Sect, am I correct?" The Doctor looked at Anders. The man's stance was beginning to waver as a realisation had dawned on him.

"Only someone who wouldn't know them would ask such a thing." Anders lowered the sword and gazed at all three of them. "You're telling the truth/"

"We're not the Conduits." The Doctor confirmed as Anders reluctantly dropped the sword. "Our ship merely caught your signal."

"How?" Anders looked confused. "This ship is not visible to anyone. They put a shielding over it. No-one aside from a Conduit can see this ship and I cannot escape."

"How long have you been here?" Victoria asked the man. He looked youngish – mid to late thirties but his eyes looked old.

"One hundred years," Anders said softly to the woman staring at him with kindness before looking over her head. "Exactly today."

"October 31st 2111." The Doctor turned to look at the clock on the wall. The clock that gave the exact dates as well as the time. "7.20pm."

"A hundred years?" Jamie looked genuinely confused. "Then how do you look like that?"

"I don't know." Anders sounded gruff upon being asked the very question. "They coated the ship with something that slowed down my body clock, so if I step outside the damn thing, I'd turn to dust but I couldn't step outside. They made sure of that. No escape pods. I tried several times to take one of the guards who bring me food onto their ship and each time I failed. They made me a shadow of myself."

"What were you?" The Doctor was curious as he looked Anders in the eye. "The Conduits are not merciful, especially when it comes to being wronged. They would usually rip traitors limb from limb and scatter each part from the universe."

"So, how come they didn't do that to me?" Anders folded his arms. "Because for me, that would've been a mercy. The Conduits aren't stupid. They take great pride in knowing their enemy and an assassin like me, does not fear torture or death. We can't fear it, otherwise we'd be insufficient in our jobs but eternal life, now that's something we fear."

"You say that as if you are you not human." Victoria was taken aback. "No human fears life."

"I am not a human, young lady." Anders turned towards Victoria. "I am a Hudris. My species are not meant to last longer than forty years. Our bodies aren't built for it."

"And the Conduits knew that?" The Doctor turned to Anders again. "Who did you kill?"

"I killed their leader." Anders began to walk down a hall and motioned the three newcomers to his prison. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Jamie asked as Anders stopped. The recording that the Doctor and Victoria had seen bits of earlier was playing again.

"If you want to know everything else, watch at the beginning. It only last twenty minutes."

The gang watched the battle formation. Men in darkened suits and visors had cornered Anders and then a larger one in a brown/purple suit attacked the man. Anders and this man fought for ten minutes before Anders chopped his head off and then the recording stopped.

"It was revenge." Anders spoke in a softly tone. "My mother and father perished at the hands of Thorin and his Conduit thugs, so I set up a perfect battleground to get my revenge. It worked in the sense that I killed Thorin. It didn't work in the sense that his men damned me to my own ship and altered it to be the perfect prison. And now I need your help, Doctor."

"I can help you leave this ship." The Doctor looked at the hardened warrior with sympathy. "But you said it yourself. You will perish once you leave. This place has kept you alive for a hundred years."

"I've lived long enough." Anders picked the sword from Jamie again. "But before I go, I have one more thing to do."

"Hey!" Jamie protested as Anders ran down a hallway, feeling the bloodlust rushing through him like never before.

"Anders!" The Doctor had called out before running after the man with Jamie and Victoria shortly behind him.

Anders jumped into the fray of a battle for the first time in a century. The first time in which he had a weapon and it was one that he was going to use against his jailers. Four purple wearing Conduits hadn't seen Anders coming with the sword. Anders moved with a renewed agility, severing arms and legs and even the head of one of them as he allowed his rage to thoroughly consume him whole.

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria came too late. They could see Anders pinning the only survivor to the wall.

"Tell them I am free." Anders sneered as he threw the man in the opposite direction. "Go back to your spaceship and tell them I am free."

The man, horrified by the deaths of his fellow Conduits immediately ran as fast as he could, hoping that the deranged Hudris wouldn't be able to catch up to him if he decided to change his mind. Anders basked in the glory of the deaths he had caused but also saw by the looks on the faces of the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria that they were not impressed.

"I guess this means you're not going to help me, Doctor?" Anders looked disappointed, though he wasn't surprised. "Then I'm sorry for this."

"Sorry for what?" Victoria had a growing sense of dread building up inside her. "What are you going to do?"

"Trick or treat." Anders swung the sword around with enough force for the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria to get out of his way before the sword landed in the pit of his stomach. "Now I'm finally free."

Anders began to bleed very quickly as he fell to the floor, blood covering the ground as he landed in the middle of the three corpses that had been there. As Victoria slunk into Jamie's arms for comfort, the Doctor realised that Anders had slipped a note into his pocket. The Doctor began to read it himself and Jamie noticed.

"What does it say?" Jamie asked.

"That this was his plan all along." The Doctor didn't look up at Jamie. "He had figured out a while back how to send a message to the TARDIS and also how to keep us distracted long enough for the Conduits to arrive. He wanted one last act of revenge before he killed himself."

"What do we do now?" Victoria pulled away from Jamie.

"We leave." The Doctor began to walk towards the TARDIS. "Now, both of you. We don't have much time left."

"Left for what?" Jamie looked around as they all headed into the TARDIS.

The Doctor set the controls and headed as far away from the abandoned ship as possible. Jamie and Victoria had both tried to pry out of him his reasons for leaving all those bodies behind and the Doctor was forced to tell them about the Conduits. To them, the Doctor and company would be seen as the ones responsible for Anders victory and that would most definitely mean death for everyone. On this of all Halloweens, the Doctor was going to make an extra effort to avoid death for both him and his friends.

- The End -

Chapter 8

**Name:** Alastair  
**Characters:** Alistair Gryffen, Darius Pike, K9, Dalek, Original Characters.  
**Synopsis:** When the remains of a Dalek are unearthed near the Gryffen manor during Halloween, a madman forces Alistair and K9 to restore the creature. Set after _Eclipse Of The Korven_.

Halloween had been the night of the year where children donned scary costumes and went about trick or treating while their older counterparts stayed at home to watch lacklustre horror movies or went out to dull as dishwater fancy dress balls which they rarely enjoyed.

Calvin Thumberland did not see the appeal to either of these prospects. Real life was far too interesting to be swept away in the sort of frivolities that others used to mask their emptiness and Calvin certainly had a lot going on to be interested in.

Power was an interest for him. Many years ago, a group of sanctimonious know it alls called the Department decided that he knew too much and tried to have him killed. Calvin had to admit to himself that their decision to kill him only came to be when he tried to shoot June Turner in the head. Sadly for him, he had missed but he near assassination of the woman cost him his life to a certain extent.

Calvin decided that faking his death and leaving London for a few years was his best course of action. He wanted the Department to be convinced that as a dead man, he was no longer a threat to them. The very idea had made him smile when he considered the fact that because they would expect it the least, he very much would be a threat to them.

"They'll never see it coming." Calvin had muttered to himself as he made the journey in his car to Gryffen house. "None of them will."

Calvin knew exactly what he was going to say when someone would open the door. He had even rehearsed it in the mirror because he was certain that the man who he would soon be pointing a gun at would recognise him and refuse to help. This man would refuse but Calvin was more than confident that he had the means of persuading the same man to help him nonetheless.

Alastair had been tinkering away with bits and bobs of a device that he was struggling to admit to himself that he knew nothing about.

"Any luck?" Darius peered his head over towards Alastair and noticed that the professor was getting a little agitated with the device.

"I think I need to give up." Alastair put the device down with frustration and looked up at K9. "Any chance you can look at it?"

"I think so, Master." K9 waved his ears in obedience as he replied in a somewhat neutral manner. "But would you find the outcome as interesting?"

"Good point." Darius smiled as he handed Alastair a cup of tea. "Oh, lighten up, professor. You'll figure it out. You usually do in the end."

"Oh, thanks for that, Darius." Alastair sipped his tea as he turned to look at Darius looking clean cut and dressed up. "And what time are Jorjie and Starkey coming for you?"

"In another two hours." Darius checked his watch. "So you'll have to bear with me for a bit longer."

Before Alastair could respond to the young man's flippancy, a rang came at the door and he placed his tea down to investigate.

"Next Halloween, I really will not be at home." Alastair said under his breath as the person standing at the door caught him by surprise.

"I believe the term is 'trick or treat'," Calvin said coolly as he pointed the gun at Alastair's forehead. "But I believe 'invite me in' works just as effectively."

"By all means, Mr Thumberland." Alastair kept his cool as he made a welcoming gesture. "Why don't you come in?"

Thumberland smiled as he gripped Alastair by the arm tightly and set his eyes on both Darius and K9, both of them who looked ready to attack.

"Don't," Alastair said in a panicked voice but it was uncertain as to who was being addressed.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Thumberland smiled at both the young man and the robotic dog. "The tiniest attempt to stop me and I'll kill the dear professor without thinking about it. I'll only need the mutt."

"He's not a mutt," Darius said angrily as Alastair motioned him to be silent.

"Affirmative." K9 blinked at Calvin who seemed both fascinated and wary of the metal dog.

"I don't really have much use for you." Calvin sneered at Darius. "Except maybe as leverage and then as target practice."

"What does that mean?" Alastair asked as Thumberland shoved him into a corner and grabbed Darius.

"Get off me!" Darius yelled as Thumberland began to bind his hands behind his back.

"It means that if you want your friend to survive and maybe your worthless self, Alistair Gryffen." Thumberland smirked as he held onto Darius. "Then you better do as I say. Now move."

"Professor, don't." Darius begged but got a smack across the head by Thumberland for his troubles.

Thumberland gestured the gun at both Alastair and K9 before keeping it firmly pointed at Darius's back as they all began to exit the manor.

"Where are we going?" Alastair walked out of his home with k9 beside him as Calvin stayed behind them, watching them at all times.

"Oh, we're going to unearth a Dalek, my dear fellow." Calvin's smile became wider as he looked at Alastair's pained reaction. "Didn't you know you were the proud owner of one?"

"What's a Dalek?" Darius looked confused as he struggled. Thumberland had stopped and opened the boot of his car.

"What are you doing?" Alistair suddenly became more worried as Thumberland shoved Darius into the boot of his car.

"Hey, let me out." Darius yelled as the boot was sealed, him stuff inside.

"I don't really need him, professor." Thumberland turned and pointed the gun at Alistair while K9 twitched. "Just you and the dog. Besides, I don't need to explain what a Dalek is to you, do I?"

"No, you don't." Alastair looked at Calvin grimly as they headed back inside the manor. "I thought we were going to find the Dalek."

"We are." Thumberland sneered. "It's out your back garden of all places, buried underneath. Isn't that amazing?"

"I believe this is what is termed 'sarcasm'." K9 blinked as Thumberland motioned the robot dog to stay ahead of them at all times.

"Your little robot dog is quite clever." Thumberland smiled as they had made themselves outside the back garden of Gryffen manor. "I might keep him as well as my pet Dalek. Reprogram him of course. I don't think your woolly thinking would be in my best interest if I were to have 'K9' as my assistant. Though I still prefer the Dalek of course."

"You do realise that they're not a submissive race, do you?" Alastair folded his arms as Thumberland threw a shovel at him. "Do you even know what they're capable of?"

"Oh I do." Thumberland held the gun firmly as Alastair began to dig. "I know exactly what they're capable of my dear fellow. For I have encountered the wretched things before and survived."

"Then you can't possibly hope for the same outcome, surely?" Alastair didn't look at Thumberland when asking the question, but Calvin knew that the man's voice dripped of disapproval and piousness.

"I'd worry about your own outcome if I were you, Alistair Gryffen." Thumberland pointed the gun at his back. "The Department will be no more by the time I'm through with them but whether or not you make it out of this alive still remains in the air. Now shut up and keep digging."

_As Alastair looked at Thumberland with incredulity, the man realised that the professor thought him insane. Thumberland did not care a jot for that. Over forty years in this very city, Thumberland remembered his encounter with the Daleks. It was as though the universe forced him to remember it over and over again._

He was a boy of seventeen at the time and the Daleks had been rounding people up in his street but before that, an hour or so ago, he witnessed his parents exterminated by the creatures. One of them had seen him and for the tiniest of moments, he thought he was done too. Only a blonde haired woman had shot the creature down in flames and walked away. He never thanked her and something told Calvin that if he ever encountered this woman again, she would not approve of his current actions. That was not something that Calvin saw as an immediate priority at the moment.

In the boot of Thumberland's car, Darius struggled with his bonds. Calling out for help wasn't an option because he knew well that it was unlikely that anyone would come in time, so he needed to think fast. Times like these, Darius realised that Starkey certainly would've come in handy and then Darius felt something sharp.

From the corner of his eye, he could scarcely see that the sharp thing he was feeling was a shard of glass. He had been careful not to grab and cause himself to bleed, but he did manage to grab it carefully and with even more precision, he slowly began to cut at his bonds until his hands were free. Now all that was stopping him was actually getting out of the boot itself but Darius was more than determined to break free as he began to kick with all his might.

It had taken at least half an hour but after all the digging that had taken place, there it stood. To both Alastair Gryffen and K9, a creature of unimaginable evil stood before them but to Calvin Thumberland, it was an opportunity.

"Oh, that is magnificent." Thumberland looked at the Dalek. He then produced a piece of software and stuck a part of it in the back of the Dalek and indicated to K9 to come forward. "Now your turn, doggy."

Reluctantly, K9 had stepped forward, allowing himself to be used by Thumberland in order to awaken the Dalek.

"You need to seriously think about what you're doing here." Alastair's hands had been bound behind his back and he was sitting on a deck chair. "If you unleash that thing on the world, there's no going back from it."

"That thing will be under my command." Thumberland smiled as he saw that the Dalek was beginning to show some signs of life. "But that's not the only reason why you're really worried, is it, professor?"

"Alastair Gryffen," the Dalek croaked barely audible. It still needed more time.

"I don't know what you mean." Alastair said in a quiet tone but he realised that Thumberland had caught the look of the professor.

"I saw your reaction when you looked at it's base." Thumberland pointed to the sword marks on the Dalek's base. "You've encountered this particular Dalek before. In fact, it was you who neutralised it."

"I was young and I was stupid." Alastair began to stammer. "I should've ..."

_Alastair's voice trailed as his mind flashed to twenty years ago. He had encountered the Dalek in question and with some electrics at the ready, he was convinced that he killed the creature inside the Dalek stone dead. Alastair had intended to study the creature but the Department had forbidden him, so he buried it underneath the ground and over the years, it had become a distant memory. Alastair cursed himself. Because of an ill decision all those years ago, he now was putting the whole of London in danger._

"I guess you and I aren't so different after all." Thumberland smirked. "Both survivors of the Daleks but now only one of us can be this thing's leader and the other it's servant. I think in the circumstances, it's only fair that you adopt the latter role, don't you?"

"You're insane." Alastair struggled as Thumberland hoisted him to his feet.

"And you talk too much." Thumberland smirked as he slipped behind Alastair and began to tie a cloth over his mouth. "Behold your victim, Alastair Gryffen."

Alastair gagged, stared at the Dalek with a growing sense of dread in his eyes. The creature was getting stronger and stronger and K9 appeared to look weaker and weaker as a result.

"You will be -," the Dalek squawked but Thumberland held up a hand first. Alastair looked confused.

"- Not quite yet." Thumberland smirked. "He can die later, perhaps. I haven't decided yet. But first, I have bigger fish to fry."

"Daleks do not take orders from humans." The creature blinked with annoyance as Thumberland continued to smile.

"You'll make an exception." Thumberland smirked again. "I was the one who brought you to life and I am the one who can give you a purpose."

"Continue." The Dalek moved a little forward, not noticing that K9 was beginning to repair himself.

"This man wronged you, yes." Thumberland pointed his gun at Alastair's face. "But he is only one man. A man who works for a group called the Department."

"I am familiar with this 'group' you speak of." Thumberland couldn't tell if the Dalek was being sarcastic with him, so he decided to ignore it.

"Then you'll know that if you don't obey my instructions." Thumberland continued. "Then this group will have you completely abolished. The dear professor here was arguably showing you a kindness with your burial. The Department are nowhere near that generous."

"What do you propose?" the Dalek pointed his ray gun at Alastair as it turned it's eyestalk in Thumberland's direction.

"Seeing as it's Halloween, their security is usually more lax." Thumberland loosened his grip of Alastair's arm. "We could pay them a visit and give them one hell of a scare. Then you can annihilate them all."

"You think like a Dalek." The Dalek observed as it then focused in on Alastair. "You on the other hand shall pay for burying me."

"Oh, in due course," Thumberland said as he turned to Alastair. "First you can help with building a new world."

"Never." Alastair muffled as from the corner of his eye he saw Darius coming them with a baseball bat.

"Duck, professor." Darius swung the bat but the Dalek shot it out of his arm and Thumberland kicked him in the shins, sending him to the ground where Thumerland placed his foot on the young man's chest.

"That was stupid." Thumberland snarled in annoyance at Darius before turning to the Dalek. "Now this you can exterminate."

"No," Darius shouted as he struggled with Thumberland keeping him pinned down.

For a moment the Dalek halted and when it appeared that he was going to shoot Darius, it then pointed it's gun at Thumberland instead.

"You cannot be serious." Thumberland looked shocked for the first time. "But I rescued you."

"Daleks do not need rescuing." The Dalek was preparing to fire. "You will be exterminated."

"You can't do this." Thumberland shouted before throwing Alastair towards. "It's him you want to kill, not me. I haven't done anything to you. Your kind spared me once upon a time. You will do so again."

"Exterminate." The Dalek had heard enough and shot Thumberland down. The man cried out in agony but taking to the floor.

Alastair hadn't time to look too relieved because the Dalek then turned it's gun towards the professor, ready to fire but then something else happened.

"Extermin-"

"- No, you don't." K9 had risen above the Dalek's head and shot the creature with enough electricity to kill it stone dead.

"Professor." Darius got off his feet and began to undo Alastair's restraints. He pulled the gag out of the man's mouth and left it dangling around his neck. "What the hell just happened?"

"Are you alright?" Alastair wanted to change the subject but Darius looked at him. "It's complicated. I made a very foolish decision when I was younger and I very nearly paid for it tonight."

"If K9 hadn't stopped it." Darius finished as he looked at the destroyed creature.

"I siphoned some of the power that Thumberland supplanted into the Dalek from me in order to neutralise it." K9 came and sat beside Alastair and Darius.

"So, that's a Dalek then?"

"One of the most evil creatures in the universe." Alastair looked at the creature. He dared himself to look properly and sighed a breath of relief when it appeared that the actual creature inside the Dalek casing was dead. "The Daleks have destroyed many lives. They once invaded this planet forty years ago, though even then that wasn't the first time they came here."

"Are they any more left?" Darius asked. "Because if this thing is that infamous, wouldn't there be more of them somewhere?"

"We haven't had a Dalek invasion for decades." Alastair looked at the remains as he took the ray gun off the Dalek. "But someday who knows."

"We will, won't we?" Darius looked at the professor with some hope in his eyes. "We'd know and if they do invade, we can stop them. I mean, K9 stopped this one alone."

"Here's hoping it doesn't come to that." Alastair used the working ray gun to blast the remains of the Dalek as both K9 and Darius were motioned to stand back. "The world has enough problems without the Daleks. Now don't you have your own Halloween engagement to attend?"

Darius nodded and made his way to leave the manor. He watched Alastair and K9 bury the remains of the Dalek, knowing this time that if anyone would unearth it, there would be nothing of the creature to use. He knew that Alastair would make a call to the Department about Thumberland and what the man had attempted to do but tonight also reminded Darius that for all the monsters that existed, the most scariest thing on Halloween had been a human.

- The End -

Chapter 9

**Name: **Nine  
**Characters:** 9th Doctor, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Autons, Daleks, Slitheen, UNIT, Original Characters.  
**Synopsis:** The Doctor, Rose and Mickey attend a UNIT based Halloween party, only to discover that one of the guests has an appetite for fear. Set between _The Long Game_ and _Father's Day_.

"I hate wearing these things," Mickey said in a grumbling voice as he fiddled with his bowtie as he pointed towards the Doctor. "How come he doesn't get to dress up?"

"Believe me I tried." Rose found herself sympathising with Mickey's plight. He looked dapper in a tuxedo but he also looked rather uncomfortable too. "He wouldn't budge."

"I changed my jumper." The Doctor pointed at a purple jumper he was wearing with his black leather jacket, trousers and shoes. "And besides, I didn't want to blend in too much with the crowd."

"Blend in with a crowd of soldiers experienced with fighting aliens," Rose said dryly as she got herself and Mickey two glasses of champagne. "Don't see that happening anytime soon."

"Exactly." The Doctor grinned at his companion and newfound friend of sorts as he got himself a glass of water from another waiter. He still wasn't entirely sure what his dynamic with Mickey was at the moment.

"So, why are we here exactly?" Mickey glanced an eye at the Doctor and then Rose. "And how come Jacks got her way out of this one?"

"She already had plans," Rose replied as she glanced around the room, wondering if there was anyone she would recognise before she turned back to her boyfriend of sorts. "You know mum, social butterfly she is."

Mickey was satisfied with Rose's answer in relation to Jackie's non appearance but his first question still hadn't been answered so he turned to the Doctor again. The Doctor looked at Mickey obliviously for a moment before realising why the young man was staring at him.

"Oh, Ricky, they wanted to meet the man who stopped the Slitheen at Downing Street." The Doctor playfully rubbed Mickey's head. "But you know, I think there's something quite wrong with this party, don't you?"

"Oh, thanks," Mickey scoffed as he turned around and realised that only him and the Doctor were still standing there. "Doctor, where's Rose?"

"Like I said, something wrong." The Doctor looked around the place and realised that he didn't recognise a single person here.

Normally that wouldn't have been a bad thing but this was a UNIT party, an organisation in which he was still a member of and there wasn't a single person here who was familiar at all. He could forgive not seeing the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton, Mike Yates or even Harry Sullivan and it had been quite some time since had seen either Liz Shaw, Jo Grant or Sarah Jane Smith but he recognised none of the members he had met during the Slitheen debacle. Worse than that, the people who previously weren't interacting with him were now looking at him with a fixed stare as their eyes flickered a fiery red.

"Mickey." The Doctor grabbed a hold on the man's hand.

"What, Doctor?" Mickey didn't look at the Doctor but noticed that the Time Lord soon let go of his hand.

"Split," the Doctor shouted and in one direction the Doctor ran with half the crowd chasing him and in the other, Mickey ran also with half the crowd chasing him.

Rose woke up to a painful headache and stared at her surroundings. She was alone and for some reason, she was starting to feel very frightened by the loneliness as a shadowy man watched her.

"How did I get up here?" Rose Tyler had realised that she was in a bedroom of sorts, so she realised that she must have been upstairs.

"Rose Tyler." The voice sounded familiar. A voice that normally excited and reassured her over the last while but now it was a voice that worried her. "You are such a disappointment."

"Doctor, is that you?" Rose got up from the bed and went to face the shadowy man in the corner of the room. "What's happening?"

"What's happening?" The man's voice flared with anger. "Are you really that stupid, Rose Tyler? What do you think is happening you silly little girl?"

"I don't know," Rose said in a slow voice, determined that whatever was happening, she was not going to show fear. At least that was the plan. "But I know -,"

"- You know exactly?" The shadowy man stepped out from the corners and revealed himself to be the Doctor. "Me? I'm 900 years old. What makes you think you know at all?"

"I know you ..."

Rose's voice trailed a little. When she looked into the eyes of the Doctor now, there was nothing there. He was completely cold with a cruelty that was wavering over him.

"You think because we travelled to a few places in time and space that you know me, Rose, is that it?" The Doctor sneered at her icily. "Oh, poor little girl thinks she's come so far from the shop girl she used to be. You really out of your depth, aren't you?"

"Doctor, stop it," Rose shouted as she came closer to him and felt his arm. His arm suddenly felt very plastic. "What the hell?"

"The only thing you need to know about me Rose is that everything dies around me." The Doctor brushed her hand off his arm. His fingers slipped down to reveal a gun. The same type of gun that Rose recognised from the Autons. "And now that means you. Unless you surrender of course."

Unable to fight it anymore, Rose screamed as the door slammed open up and another man grabbed from her from the falsehood that she thought was going to kill her. Rose looked up to see that it was the real Doctor. Sighing relief, she hugged him instantly and then broke free.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Rose looked at the Time Lord. She could tell he was relieved to see her. "Where's Mickey?"

Mickey had been running for a while before he realised that the people who were chasing him were no longer there. He stopped to catch his breath and then called out for the first person he wanted to see.

"Rose!" Mickey had shouted her name and then turned to see something he didn't expect.

"You murdered my family." A Slitheen had slunk out of a corner and tried to attack Mickey with its arm. Mickey stumbled away as a familiar face pulled him away.

"Mickey." Rose's voiced called out in horror as blood dripped from her mouth. The Slitheen had struck the back of her chest with its claw and Rose fell to the ground bleeding.

"No!" Mickey shouted, tears welling up inside him then falling down his face. He couldn't hold his anguish in any longer. "Stay with me, Rose, just hold on. I'll get the Doctor. Doctor, where the hell are you?"

"Surrender." The shadowy creature hissed to Mickey, faceless, whispering and glowing. "Your life for the girl's."

Mickey hesitated for a moment. In his arms, he felt Rose Tyler getting weaker and weaker. She was closer to death as ever and while he knew that the creature standing before probably shouldn't be trusted, the Doctor was nowhere in sight.

"I, I surrend-," Mickey was cut off as Rose came up behind him and clamped his mouth shut with her hand. He mumbled when he saw his girlfriend. "Rose?"

"Yes, it's me." Rose released her hand from Mickey's mouth and Mickey saw that he was only holding onto one version of his girlfriend and this was one who wasn't covered in blood. Rose kissed him on the lips and smiled. "Don't worry, it tried something similar with me too. Am I glad to see you?"

"Me too." Mickey beamed at Rose. "Where's the Doctor?"

"Clever humans," the creature hissed again. "So very clever. But there's still one of you left. And that one will surrender to me. Isn't that right, Doctor?"

The creature turned around and saw that the Time Lord was standing behind it, arms folded and with a dark look on his hand. The creature imagined to any inferior race that the very look the Doctor was showing would've scared them. It would not work on the creature.

"I was wondering when you'd get to me," the Doctor said dryly with a tinge of anger in his voice. "Thought to go after my friends first, did you?"

"Humans," the creature smiled. "They're so simple, even the one that has seen time and space and the one she left behind. A brief appetiser for a main course that is you, Time Lord."

"What exactly are you?" Mickey asked as both him and Rose got up from the ground.

"I'm a reaf," the creature replied, baring it's teeth at Mickey. "And before you state the obvious, yes I'm aware that my species name is 'fear' backwards."

"Your kind no longer exist," the Doctor replied as he looked the creature over with his sonic screwdriver. "You all died in the Time War."

"You mean that one over there?" The creature smiled as the Doctor stood still, not looking at anyone in particular.

"Doctor!" Rose panicked as she went over to him, trying to get his attention but he was too distracted to even see her. She turned to the creature angrily. "What have you done to him?"

"Little trip down memory lane, Miss Tyler." The creature smirked as it placed it's hands on the Doctor's head. "Do you surrender, Time Lord? You're not the only one with little time left. This is my ninth and final chance to be free. Make it so."

"What do you mean free?" Rose asked as she noticed that the creature's form was beginning to become solid and darker looking and then she realised what it meant for the Doctor. "You're killing him."

"No, I'm saving him, Rose Tyler," the creature said in a more empathetic voice. "All that guilt, the things he's done. Do you think anyone could live with it, even him?"

_The Doctor's mind had whirled into the furthest stretches of the Time War. Over and over again, he saw death. The death of his people, the death of the Daleks and any other civilisation and world that had the misfortune of being caught in the Time War. The very word 'exterminate' reverberated in every corner of his mind and soul but it wasn't the only word filling him up either. Another was being spoken._

"Surrender."

The Doctor jerked as he felt himself succumbing to the notion of surrender. It would be so easy to do it. To release that guilt, allow himself the freedom from the burdens that he had been walking around with for such a long time but amongst the word of surrender, another was being spoken.

"Doctor."

A young woman was speaking the word, the same woman whose life had been changed more than she would ever know by him but it was also the same word that made the Doctor make his final choice.

_I won't go._

Rose had been shouting in the Doctor's ear as the creature had tried to push her and Mickey away from the Doctor but by letting go of the Doctor's head, the creature realised it's influence over the Time Lord had began to wane and it turned in horror to realise it had ceased completely.

"No," the creature shouted in horror as it realised it was beginning to fade. "You could've saved me."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor said sombrely. He genuinely meant it. "Everything has it's time."

"You were my last chance to survive," the creature began to cry. "I don't want to die."

The creature faded from existence and with it, an entire building of life had faded. The Doctor, Rose and Mickey were now standing in an empty, disused building. Rose instantly hugged the Doctor and Mickey shook his hand.

"You had us going there." Rose beamed with happiness. "I thought I lost you."

"For a minute there, so I did," the Doctor admitted. "Still I guess it's not my time."

"It said it tried nine times." Mickey broke the moment between the Doctor and Rose. "Nine times to try and live and it failed. How many did die in the Time War?"

"Too many," the Doctor replied shortly but found himself impressed with Mickey's compassion during that moment. "Anyways, enough chin wagging, I think there's still time to find a real Halloween party, isn't there?"

As the Doctor and Rose left the abandoned building, Mickey walked behind them. He still didn't properly understand the reaf but he knew that deep down, something like that could only play on fears and ones that were real. As he looked at the Doctor and Rose, Mickey wondered how much longer before neither of them would have a lucky escape.

- The End -

Chapter 10

**Name: **Walk Like A Zombie  
**Characters:** 4th Doctor, Adric, Original Characters.  
**Synopsis:** A celebration of Halloween on the luxury space station Haven 12 is thrown into chaos as the Doctor and Adric find most of the crew have taken on a zombie like form. Set between _The Keeper Of Traken_ and _Logopolis_.

"The crew have been infected for over an hour," Allison Maybing said, still not believing what her very eyes had seen. "Our guests have been quarantined for their own good and yet you grin like a clown. Have you no respect at all, Doctor?"

"Actually, the Doctor -," Adric tried to interrupt but Allison struck him with annoyance with the back of her hand. "What was that for?"

"You're no better than him." Allison regarded the boy with an icy contempt. "If I didn't need both of your help, I'd personally eject the pair of you from my ship."

"Well, it's a very nice that you haven't yet, Allison." The Doctor continued to grin as he showed her a vial. "Because I think I have what you want here."

"What is that stuff?" Allison snatched the vial from the Time Lord's grasp and saw the purple liquid inside it. "How did you get it?"

"I made it." The Doctor took the vial from Allison's grip again. "While I sent zombie like crew after you and Adric, I managed to sneak back into the TARDIS for a while."

"So, that's where you were." Adric had remembered running down a corridor with Allison and three others. "Maybe next time you could let us in on the plan, Doctor."

The three others had been caught by the crew and quickly became zombie like themselves. Adric and Allison only escaped because the Doctor had come for them in the nick of time. Allison had cursed the Doctor for not showing up earlier and wasn't interested in explanations, except for now when it appeared that he had the very thing to save her crew and her guests on the ship.

"So, what are you waiting for?" Allison looked at the Doctor impatiently. "Give me the vial and I'll do my duty. Fix the mess you two brought on here in the first place."

"I keep telling you," the Doctor sighed with frustration. "That wasn't me who turned your crew into zombies. Besides why would I turn your crew into zombies only to give you an antidote?"

"Maybe you have a sick sense of humour." Allison was getting impatient now. "How do I know what your kind think passes for fun."

"I assure you, this wouldn't be my idea of fun," the Doctor said reassuringly.

"Just hand it over." Allison cut him short as she poured the entire contents of the vial into a gun as she looked at the Doctor and Adric. "And try this time not to get in my way."

"Good luck," the Doctor said sincerely as he pulled himself and Adric away from Allison. When she gave him the nod, he switched on a button and the door opened. Coming from the door were the zombie like crew, their hands out and ready to grab.

"Be it on your head if this doesn't work," Allison said testily as she fired the formula from her gun and watched as it splashed all over the crew, her crew. She looked with trepidation as they screamed in agony before slumping to the ground.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Adric was the first to ask as the crew began to convulse on the ground.

"Shh, Adric," the Doctor said, hushing the young man. Allison looked at the Doctor, not sure what to say before looking to her crew. After one final scream, they had calmed down and were unconscious.

"Are they?" Allison's voice trembled before it hardened and she faced the Doctor to ask. "Are they dead?"

"Far from it." The Doctor smiled as he began to check all eight of Allison's crew for signs of heartbeats. "When they wake up, it'll feel like a nasty hangover but your crew, Allison Maybing are alive and well."

"Then I should thank you," Allison said in a kinder voice. "But I have guests to release from quarantine and an explanation as to why their Halloween has been ruined. If you help with the latter, maybe I can see to it that your stay here is a lot accommodating."

"That should be interesting to see." Adric couldn't help himself. For the last hour and a bit, Allison had been blaming them for everything that went wrong but a look from the Doctor and Adric knew not to say more on the matter.

"Consider it done," the Doctor smiled as Adric volunteered to stay with the crew while the Time Lord and Allison dealt with the party guests. "Any chance for some jelly babies?"

"I'll see what I can do." Allison laughed and for the first time since their arrival, she found herself enjoying the company of the man who called himself the Doctor.

Adric watched over the crew as they began to regain consciousness and while he was able to explain as well as he could without the Doctor and Allison there, he still couldn't explain to the crew how exactly they had been reduced to a zombie like state. It seemed like the sort of thing the Master would do but Adric dismissed the idea. The Master was but a distant memory and when he had finally met up with the Doctor and Allison and headed back to the Halloween party, he could've sworn from the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar face but on a day like this, Adric thought it was better not looking for trouble.

- The End -

Chapter 11

**Name: **A Cruelty Or Kindness  
**Characters:** 8th Doctor, Charlotte Pollard, C'Rizz, Original Characters.  
**Synopsis:** In a Bulgarian forest in 1608, the Doctor, Charlotte and C'Rizz arrive to a village devastated by a werewolf. With the villagers frenzied and paranoid, the Doctor and his companions have to gain their trust long enough to help them. Set after _Terror Firma_.

C'Rizz had tried sleeping but the voices inside his head were drumming restlessly. So many of them burrowing through, all desperate for his attention. It felt like the back of his head was being scraped through and it got to a point where C'Rizz felt like he couldn't take any more and finally he unleashed his anger.

"Just shut up!" C'Rizz yelled louder than he could whilst hurling the book he had been reading a while ago at the door of his bedroom.

He had obviously screamed a lot louder than he intended to because while the voices in his head seemed to quieten down, C'Rizz had managed to attract the attention of someone else.

"Something the matter, C'Rizz?" Charlotte Pollard stood outside his door, looking concerned. C'Rizz noticed she was wearing something that looked like it had been from the 17th Century. "I thought I heard noises."  
"Nothing!" C'Rizz said a little too quickly as he noticed Charlotte picking up the book that he had thrown at the door. "Just a bad dream. Why are you dressed like that?"

"Don't change the subject." Charlotte Pollard didn't miss a trick and C'Rizz could've cursed her for it. "You know you can talk about it, if not to be me then at least to the Doctor. It doesn't help bottling things up, C'Rizz."

"I know." C'Rizz smiled as Charlotte offered him her hand. He took it for a moment before letting go. "But not now."

"Okay, that's something." Charlotte decided to back down for the time being. If she pushed him further about what Davros had subjected him too, he might never really tell her. "And to answer your question, we're going to 1608 Bulgaria."

"Why Bulgaria and why 1608, specifically?" C'Rizz raised an eyebrow as both him and Charley entered the console to see that the Doctor had been waiting for them. "What's the Doctor up to now?"

"It's Halloween, C'Rizz," the Doctor said rather happily as he began to open the door. "I thought you might want to see it in a different century."

"Doesn't really mean much to me, Halloween," C'Rizz admitted before looking at Charley. "No offence."

"None taken." Charlotte laughed. "It's not exactly one of my favourite holidays and after the Daleks and Davros, I think I've had enough scares, Doctor."

"Consider this a vacation from scares then." The Doctor ushered for his companions to exit the TARDIS. "Nice traditional village, some interesting customs to learn and most importantly, not a flicker of danger."

As for the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, he noticed that C'Rizz and Charlotte were a little too quiet for his liking. He then realised that four angry villagers were holding guns to their faces as the butt of a rifle was aimed at his head.

"You were saying," C'Rizz said tersely as he could feel the hostility coming off the villagers for him more intensely that it was for Charlotte and the Doctor.

"Well, almost no danger." The Doctor turned to look at his companions. "We've been in worse scrapes."

"I'd like to say that was comforting, Doctor," Charlotte said as she began to put her hands down. "But gun pointed at my head."

"You will come with us." The villager with the gun pointed at C'Rizz motioned them to move in a new direction. "Both of you and the freak."

"Who are you calling a freak?" C'Rizz got rightly annoyed as another villager went behind him and bound his hands tightly behind his back. "Hey, get off me."

"Leave him alone." Charlotte tried to help C'Rizz but one of the villagers grabbed her by the arm and tied her hands behind her back while another pointed his gun tighter at the Doctor so he didn't anything rash.

"Charley, do as they say," C'Rizz said sharply as he struggled with the villager holding onto his arm.

"You'll keep your mouth shut, demon." The leader of the four threw a cloth towards one of his men who caught it.

"Look, I might look different to you lot but I am no -," C'Rizz was cut off when the villager in front of him gagged him with the cloth.

"No more talk from either of you," the older villager said in a bristled voice to the Doctor and Charley. "Now move or I will kill you agents of the wolf right here and now."

"What wolf?" The Doctor managed to ask before he was dragged out of the forest along with Charlotte and C'Rizz and into a village.

C'Rizz had been bound and gagged to a stake in the middle of the village and if Charlotte hadn't been restrained, she knew for certain that she would've punched and kicked the villagers who spat and jeered at C'Rizz. The Doctor walked up behind her and tried to smile reassuringly while he was watched by the others.

"Let him go, you idiots." Charlotte's hands had been untied by the Doctor and angrily she rubbed her wrists while being kept apart from C'Rizz. "He hasn't done anything to you."

"He is a demon." A woman interrupted, briefly glancing at C'Rizz in fear. "I've never seen anything so horrifying in my life apart from the wolf."

"Horrifying or not," Charlotte barked at the woman impatiently. "My friend is harmless and he's not a demon."

"He's not human either." One of the men guarding C'Rizz spoke out as he pointed his gun at Charlotte.

"Does that matter?" Charlotte spat out in anger. "From what I've seen you lot are behaving far worse than any demon out there."

The man looked at Charlotte for a moment and it seemed like he was faltering. Then out of nowhere, he struck her hard across the face. In response the Doctor punched the man in the jaw before being held back by three other villagers.

"Kill the demon," the man said, indicating towards torches that two women were holding onto and then he looked at the Doctor and Charley. "And them too. Maybe their deaths will cast this wolf out of our lives for good."

C'Rizz began to kick out at the women who were coming near him with the torches and managed to do so successful, knocking them back. The man flared his nostrils with anger and aimed his gun at C'Rizz with the intent to kill.

"Untie him now," the Doctor shouted at the man aiming the rifle at C'Rizz. "I assure you we're not in league with this wolf you claim attacked your village but if you don't release my friend, I will not help you. Is that clear?"

The man faltered as C'Rizz began struggling in his bonds more and more. Before he could react, C'Rizz had freed himself, removed his gag and grabbed the rifle off him, pointing it at the man's chest.

"How did you?" The man stumbled with shock. "You, you demon."

"I am not a demon, you imbecile," C'Rizz snapped impatiently. "Don't any of you people listen to a word anyone else says? If I was demon, I could've killed you in the forest before you tied me up but I didn't. The Doctor, Charley and me – we're the good guys. We help."

"How can you possibly help us?" The woman from before had barked at C'Rizz. "You're not even human."

"And you're not exactly the best representatives they have either but I'll let that one go for now." C'Rizz threw the gun at Charley who caught it with ease. "Doctor, what do we do?"

The Doctor paused for a moment as C'Rizz and Charley stayed at his side, keeping a safe distance between them and the villagers. The Doctor could see that they still had mistrust over their faces but at the moment, none of them seemed to trying to sneak attack of them.

"What you said before, C'Rizz, we help," the Doctor smiled at his companions before turning to the villagers. "But no funny business at all. You so much as try to hurt my companions and I and I will leave you at the mercy of this 'wolf'. Now tell me everything I need to know about it."

"Then I will tell you, Doctor."

The older man stepped forward and identified himself as Johann and began to explain everything. He explained how the wolf looked like a man they had abjured a year before it morphed. Johann then explained how it killed, wounded and maimed over seventy villagers in the last six months, including twelve children. He also explained to the Doctor that the wolf promised on the last day of October, it would come to finish the village off once and for all one year to the day he had been spurned by them.

"Last day of October?" Charlotte had picked up on the date and turned to the older man. "But that's Halloween. That's today."

"It's night, girl," another villager replied as a chill in the air was felt by all.

"No," the Doctor said in an alarmed voice. "It's not just tonight. It's right now. I can sense it in the night air. Listen."

A howl filled the air but it wasn't one howl. Several howls quickly followed and the fear and paranoia that had the villagers on edge seemed to be back again as C'Rizz looked at some of them warily.

"Doctor," Charlotte said in a tense voice as she could feel her grip tightening on the rifle she had been holding onto. "I think we've got company."

The Doctor, C'Rizz and the villagers turned to see a naked and muddied man standing with five wolves before him. They were not werewolves, at least not of Earth origin either. The man smiled as he looked at the Doctor, C'Rizz and Charley with fascination.

"Newcomers," the man smiled in delight at the trio. "You have picked a wrong day to visit this village, I'm afraid."

"I'm a time traveller." The Doctor made an attempt to lighten the mood. "Any day to visit anywhere has the possibility of being good or bad really. Might I ask who you are? You're not from here, are you?"

"You sense it too then," the man sneered, uncertain of whether to trust the alien who looked human. "I am Luxil, a visitor to this world or I had thought so. Until I made the misfortune of getting to know this lot."

"Not the most hospitable bunch, are they?" C'Rizz asked, sensing a common ground with the naked man.

"No, they are not." Luxil didn't mince his words as he gave C'Rizz a curious look. He could've sworn he knew the species but the name wasn't coming to him right away.

"Still though, no need to kill them, is there?" The Doctor noticed that the villagers themselves were preparing their guns and pitchforks and torches. "I'm sure we can settle this without bloodshed. I sense you're better than needless violence, Luxil."

"Is that so?" Luxil fixed a cold glare on one particular villager. The man who had cast him out. "And how would you like it to be settled?"

"I'll have that murderer's hide," Johann screamed at Luxil, only for Charley to hold the man back.

"That's not helping," Charlotte grunted at the villager in annoyance. "Let the Doctor handle this his way."

"You don't have to kill anyone." The Doctor mad an attempt to move towards the naked man. "I can take you anywhere you want if you do no harm to any of these people. You've already taken enough from them."

"You really do believe in this species, don't you?" Luxil stared at the Doctor curiously. "You're that Time Lord, aren't you? The one that mostly travels with humans."

"Yes," the Doctor replied softly. "You've heard of me then."

"I thought humans were good, kind even." Luxil folded his arms. "I crashed here a year, my spaceship is little more than rubble now and I thought that the humans would be kind to me and help. I only came to this village to ask for help to return home. And do you know what they did?"

"I can hazard a guess," Charlotte said reluctantly as she thought about Johann's treatment of C'Rizz. "But I'm hoping that I'm wrong."

"They tried to kill me." Luxil's voice flared with rage. "They saw me change from one form to another and they took upon themselves to try and kill me. Nearly succeeded too, had I not killed three of them in self-defence."

"You killed more than three of us, you vermin," Johann growled as C'Rizz grabbed him by the arm.

"What did Charley say?" C'Rizz snapped angrily at Johann. "Keep your mouth shut and leave it to the Doctor."

"You're no better than him," Johann grumbled as C'Rizz loosened his grip on the older man's arm.

"After you promised to finish me off for good." Luxil looked at Johann with disgust before turning to face the Doctor again. "So you see I can't go back on my word now. It's either me or them. However I will give you and your friends a chance to leave this village. I have no quarrel with you. For your own sake, don't refuse my offer."

The Doctor didn't have time to answer Luxil. Instead the man morphed into a giant wolf and lunged straight for Johann, only to be swept back by C'Rizz's tail. The five other wolves then began to attack the villagers as the Doctor and Charley found themselves torn between events.

C'Rizz wrestled with Luxil in his wolf guise, struggling with keeping him away from Johann. Johann tried to attack the creature with a pitchfork but a smack from Luxil's paw sent the pitchfork flying out of the man's grip.

"Get out of here," C'Rizz shouted at Johann as he could feel Luxil slipping out of his grip. "Before he kills you."

"But he'll kill you," Johann replied in a frightened but surly voice. "Don't you want to live?"

"I didn't know you cared." C'Rizz tried to grip tighter to Luxil but he was losing more and more grip with each passing second.

"I don't, demon." Johann stared for a moment before doing the cowardly thing and running away, around the same time that C'Rizz had lost control and Luxil was free.

"Johann!"

Johann didn't get far enough before Luxil jumped on his back and began to tear the man apart. C'Rizz managed to swing his tail and flip Luxil off Johann but by then it had been too late. Luxil had succeeded in killing Johann and then morphed back into his human guise, looking both confused and sad at what he had done.

"You killed him," C'Rizz said, sounding both shocked and matter of fact. "You didn't have to."

"Yes I did," Luxil said softly as he glanced over C'Rizz's head. "You have two choices right now. You can kill me and right what you think is wrong or you can go and save your friends. Something tells me that both the Doctor and Charley are more of a priority than I am."

"Run and keep running," C'Rizz said in a dark tone.

"Thank you, C'Rizz. I won't forget this kindness."

C'Rizz stood still for a moment as Luxil morphed back into a wolf and began to flee. For a moment, C'Rizz thought of going after him and showing him the error of his ways but he couldn't help but wonder if Luxil had been right to an extent. Johann and the villagers had shown Luxil hostility and tried to kill him and if tonight had played different, C'Rizz knew that perhaps Johann would've done the same to him. As he considered that, C'Rizz's thoughts were then interrupted by Charley's screams.

"No, you don't." Charley had been struggling with the last wolf trying to rip her face off. She was barely managing to keep it's sharpened teeth from her face when C'Rizz snuck up behind it and snapped it's neck. "Thanks."

Charley looked at C'Rizz nervously as he helped her to her feet. She could tell by the look on his face that he didn't want to kill the wolf but he said nothing else.

"Where's Luxil?" Charley asked her friend. He didn't look at her. "Did he hurt you?"

"He's gone," C'Rizz said shortly as a scratched Doctor came towards them. "Do we go after him?"

"Yes, we do." The Doctor had a steely look on his face. C'Rizz looked over the Doctor's head and saw that seven villagers had been wounded but all the wolves had been dead. "Come on, Charley and C'Rizz."

Both Charley and C'Rizz had been solemn in the TARDIS while the Doctor tried to track for Luxil. Somehow, the alien werewolf creature had managed to find a means of hiding himself and the Doctor barely contained his frustration with this. He might not have liked or even respected Johann and his people but at the same time, he couldn't condone what Luxil had done to them either.

As Charley watched the Doctor, C'Rizz had retreated to his room to try and sleep. His dreams blurred with everything he had been experience. The losses, the near deaths, the experiments that he had been subjected. All of them now were a sea of voices churning round and round in his head. He saw the horror in Johann's eyes when Luxil had torn him apart and C'Rizz realised he should've stopped Luxil but he didn't and that horrified him to the very core.

_What have I done?_

- The End -

Chapter 12

**Name: **Epiphany  
**Characters:** 5th Doctor, Tegan Jovanka, Nyssa, Original Characters.  
**Synopsis:** The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa celebrate Halloween on another world. Set between _Arc Of Infinity _and _Snakedance_.

"This feels a little silly," Tegan moaned as she managed to fit herself into the costume that she managed to find in a wardrobe. "Why Halloween of all times to go to?"

"Come on, Tegan, where's your sense of adventure?" The Doctor teased her as he slipped back into a clown outfit that Tegan had seen him in once before.

"Ask Omega." Tegan motioned the Doctor to zip her up and he promptly did so before staring at Nyssa who hadn't changed into anything. "Oh come on, Nyssa. If I have to dress up, so do you."

"On a few worlds, what I would be wearing would be considered a costume." Nyssa tried to get out of the conversation but Tegan had that face on her. "Oh, alright then. You win. But I'm not wearing anything revealing."

"Fair enough." Tegan smiled before looking at herself in the mirror. "Actually this isn't bad at all. It's very -,"

"- Marilyn Monroe," the Doctor interrupted her. "Actually it's one of her dresses."

"How do you have one of Marilyn Monroe's dresses in your TARDIS?" Tegan gave the Doctor a sceptical look.

"Long story." The Doctor suddenly blushed. "Let's say Romana in the right circumstances bore something of a resemblance to Marilyn. If you were in a banquet of very, very drunk Martians."

"I don't think I want to know the rest," Tegan smiled, enjoying the Doctor's bouts of embarrassment but showing enough mercy by not asking him anything else. "Nyssa, come on, we'll be late."

"Coming." Nyssa smiled as she stepped into the room with a costume that had both the Doctor and Tegan biting their tongues to stop their laughter. "How do I look?"

"Not revealing for a start," Tegan smiled and then laughed a little. "I was joking before."

"Why a pumpkin, Nyssa?" The Doctor looked bemused. He had no idea how that sort of a costume had ended up in his possession.

"Thought I was being inventive." Nyssa admitted. "Maybe I should change."

"Don't be silly, you look lovely," Tegan said in an assuring tone as she took Nyssa's hand and showed her in the mirror. Tegan then turned to the Doctor. "We're ready."

"Then let's head out to the crowd." The Doctor took both Tegan and Nyssa by the arm each and escorted them outside the TARDIS. "You're going to love this world."

They had landed on the planet called Fen and Tegan and Nyssa soon realised that for the people of this world, Halloween was their version of New Year's Eve. The drinks had been flowing during many conversations on politics, science, pop culture as well as commemorating those who had been lost over the last year.

The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa had though of Adric during the midnight mourning of the dead and raised their champagne glasses in his honour. After one o'clock, there had been more festivities, including the winners of best costume, which Nyssa had promptly received. Apparently, pumpkins were a favoured delicatessen on Fen, so Nyssa had generated a lot of compliments before her victory. The worst costume had gone to a Drashig, who didn't even bother to dress up for the occasion but grudgingly left when told to do so by security.

At three o'clock in the morning, everyone had taken their leave and as the Doctor and Nyssa had headed to their quarters to sleep off their fatigue, Tegan had found herself too wired to sleep. It had dawned on her that for all the dangers she experienced and the death that she had seen, a part of her had felt a little aimless when she had been left at Heathrow all those months ago. Even though she knew that she would leave the Doctor, Nyssa and the TARDIS behind one day, right now, it wasn't going to be today. Tegan realised that while the universe can be a scary place every day and not just on Halloween, it also can also be wonderful and exciting and for now, Tegan Jovanka was staying put.

- The End -

Chapter 13

**Name: **Three Little Sontarans  
**Characters:** 7th Doctor, Ace McShane, Sontarans.  
**Synopsis:** The Doctor and Ace are forced into helping three Sontarans who have become a victim of their own technology during Halloween. Set after _Survival_.

They thought it was going to be a routine night back in Perivale but detecting a Sontaran ship in the middle of the street cloaked with a perception filter so no-one could see it had gotten their attention. The distraction of a temporary blackout had been enough for the Doctor and Ace to slip inside the ship, hoping that the element of surprise would be on their side. Unfortunately for the Doctor and Ace, they had miscalculated the Sontarans on that one.

"Next time professor, let me use force," Ace grumbled as she swung from her chains and turned to see that the Doctor was in a similar position to her.

"I thought that stealth was the better option," the Doctor said as the Sontaran chained his right hand and then his left one above his head. "Clearly I was wrong."

"No-one can stop the fourth and great Sontaran battle fleet," Kraal smiled in victory as he saw his prisoners struggling with their restraints.

"There are only three of you." Ace pointed out dryly. "Not exactly great counting for Sontarans, are you?"

"They said 'battle fleet', Ace." The Doctor turned to his companion before facing Kraal himself. "What are you lot up to?"

"You'll see soon enough, Doctor." Kraal sneered before calling out to Husk and Jerag. "Is the machine ready?"

"Oh, it's ready," Jerag smiled greatly. "The Rutans won't know what's hit them and neither will these humans in their strange costumes either."

Ace turned her head to see that both Jerag and Husk were working the controls on something that looked like a ray gun but bigger. The weapon was a thing of beauty, crusted in sapphires and rubies with dashes of blue metal and multicoloured wires. Ace didn't know whether to be impressed or appalled but her gut instinct told her that it probably should be the latter when it came to having a reaction over the machine.

"What exactly does that thing do?" Ace pulled harder at her restraints, still looking at the machine with a fixed stare.

"Good question for a female," Husk sneered at Ace, thinking of her as little more than a child, before turning to Kraal for assurance. "Permission to commence demonstration, Commander?"

"Permission granted." Kraal then turned to the Doctor. "Behold the might of Sontar, Time Lord and female child."

"I wouldn't if I were you." The Doctor had been looking at the machine they had built and he didn't like the fact that it was sparking as bad as it had been. Even Jerag and Husk looked a little concerned.

"Ignore him." Kraal waved his hand dismissively at the Time Lord before pointing towards Jerag and Husk. "Proceed."

"As you command," Jerag replied as both he and Husk began to switch levers and push button.

"I'm advising you not to go through with this, Kraal." The Doctor struggled in his bonds as he tried to pull himself free. "You have no idea what you're about to do."

"Oh, we have every idea, Time Lord," Kraal sneered. "These humans you care for are merely a road testing of the device. They are -,"

Kraal didn't have time to finish the sentence. The machine began to sparkle and hum more erratically and instead of aiming for a few humans on the street, trying to get past the invisible spaceship, the beam somehow managed to get inside the ship and strike all three Sontarans and narrowly miss both the Doctor and Ace. What happened next surprised everyone.

"They've shrunk," Ace gasped, looking at the three Sontarans who were now half the size they were with wonder.

"What's happened?" Jerag looked horrified as he turned to see the Doctor and Ace. "Why our enemies so tall?"

"They're not tall, you idiot," Kraal barked angrily, smacking Jerag across the head. "Your machine has turned against us. We've shrunk."

"That's what you get for messing around with dangerous technology," the Doctor replied sharply as Kraal gave him a dark look.

"To be fair, it wasn't our idea, Commander." Husk interrupted proceedings. "It was your designs. We merely built it together."

"And because of you, we have become a laughing stock in front of our hostages." Kraal for the first time as a commander found himself experiencing shame and he didn't like it one bit.

"Don't sell yourself short." Ace couldn't help finding the humour in the turn of events. Kraal gave her a look that made Ace glad that looks couldn't actually kill. "You brought this on yourselves."

"Short as I may be, I can still kill you with this." Kraal pulled out a short staff of sorts that he had been carrying. "It might take at least a few shots but I'd like to see you make any more puns girl when I cut you down to size."

"Not if I kick you first." Ace retaliated by kicking out towards Kraal, narrowly missing him.

"Ha, looks like we're not the only ones at a disadvantage." Kraal observed sharply before coming to a horrible realisation.

"I'd say your predicament is worse than ours, Kraal," the Doctor snorted. "It's not every day your own malevolence backfires on you, is it?"

"A temporary setback, Time Lord," Jerag snarled at the Doctor. "One that can be rectified."

"Not without help though," Ace said drily as she noticed that all three Sontarans stared at their machine with trepidation. "Wouldn't you say, professor?"

"Oh yes, Ace, I would," the Doctor smiled as he understood what she was trying to do. "It's a little too bad that Kraal and his cohorts only source of help is a little restrained at the moment."

"Oh very clever, Doctor." Kraal had come to the horrible realisation for himself. "I suppose we could help each other out."

"Help each other out?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that going against all Sontaran ethics?"

"It is." Husk turned towards Kraal. "Commander, you can't show weakness towards the enemy. Think of Sontar."

"I am thinking of Sontar," Kraal snapped before turning to the Doctor. "Are you interested in your freedom and the girl's safety?"

"I'm listening."

The Doctor realised he had no choice in the matter. He didn't want to wait for a chance for Kraal and his cronies to get a further upper hand, so he indulged the Sontaran commander. The deal was simple – Kraal would use his staff to free the Doctor and Ace from their chains, provided they fixed their machine and restored to them to their normal height and they would be set free. Ace had her doubts about Kraal, even when the Sontaran cut their bonds.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Ace rubbed her wrists as she stared at Kraal.

"You have no choice girl." Kraal took pleasure in wiping the smile off the young girl's face.

"He has a point," the Doctor said with reluctance. "Come on, Ace, we have work to do."

It had taken both the Doctor and Ace at least an hour to fix the machine but once they had, both of them had lived up to their word and restored the Sontarans to their proper height. As Kraal began to smirk, Ace grabbed his staff and pointed it at the machine, zapping at it at least three times. She managed to destroy it beyond repair.

"What's the meaning of this?" Kraal was angry as he pointed towards the Doctor and Ace. "We had an arrangement."

Ace used the distraction to retrieve her bag and pull out a few canisters of emptied Nitro 9, which she then placed at two different corners of the ship.

"Yes, we did," the Doctor smiled as Ace threw him the staff. "But unfortunately, I know you lot better than you wish I did. I knew the second you were back to your normal sizes that you would try to kill us. Don't deny it, Kraal."

"There's no reason why I still can't kill you both." Kraal looked on at the time travellers with vengeance in his eyes. "You may have destroyed our weapons but this ship -,"

"- is letting us out and leaving this planet in peace." The Doctor finished for Kraal. "And if it tries to come back to do otherwise, it will regret so. Is that clear?"

The Doctor pointed towards the canisters of Nitro 9 on the floor and then played with the staff he was holding. Kraal looked at the man and saw a darker side to him. Kraal realised he had no choice in the matter.

"Very well," Kraal muttered bitterly. "Take your leave, Time Lord but be warned – you will suffer for this indignity."

"Not on this world." The Doctor glanced at Kraal one last time as he headed for the exit and closed it promptly behind.

The Doctor and Ace stood there, waiting for Kraal's ship to take off in the air and even though it was still invisible, they could hear it leaving the street. The noise was deafening but then something else took over Ace's attention when she realised what day it was.

"Wait, we've landed on Halloween," Ace said to the Doctor as she spotted a series of children in various costumes roaming across the street trick or treating.

"Bring back any memories?" the Doctor queried as he looked around the place. The last time he was in Perivale, it was a contest of survival of the fittest. This time around, it seemed quieter by comparison.

"I don't think you'd have approved at what I used to get up to on Halloween, professor." Ace remembered a time where she and Midge had egged some noisy neighbour's car during Halloween. Somehow she got the impression the Doctor might not have seen the funny side of that story, so she decided not to tell him.

"Perhaps you're right," the Doctor replied, agreeing with her. "But while we're here, maybe we should take part in the occasion."

"We're not really dressed for it, are you?" Ace pointed at both her own and the Doctor's attire.

"Somehow I don't think that really matters," the Doctor smiled and with Ace, he slunk into the crowd of people in the street.

Someone had come up with the idea of a street party on Halloween in Perivale and the Doctor and Ace found themselves fitting in with the locals quite nicely. Ace smiled as she sipped her drink and for the first time in a long while pleased to be back home. She looked up at the sky and hoped those three Sontarans who had visited Perivale never returned but she had a feeling that one day soon, both her and the Doctor would encounter them again.

- The End -

Chapter 14

**Name: **Pumpkin Challenge  
**Characters:** Sarah Jane Smith, Luke Smith, Maria Jackson, Clyde Langer, Mr Smith.  
**Synopsis:** Following a lull of trick or treaters, Sarah Jane and the gang amuse themselves with some pumpkin carving as Mr Smith judges the between _Eye Of The Gorgon _and _Warriors Of Kudlak_.

"When I said I was bored, this wasn't necessarily what I had in mind." Clyde looked at Sarah Jane as she handed him a pumpkin. "What exactly am I supposed to do with it?"

"What do you want to do with it, Clyde?" Sarah Jane asked before Luke and Maria also looked at their pumpkins. "Think of it as a challenge?"

"A challenge?" Luke looked a little confused and Clyde seemed surprised. Given how Luke could easily solve most equations without even thinking about it, it was interesting to see that pumpkin perplexed him.

"You mean a pumpkin challenge?" Maria replied as she was balancing the pumpkin on her head for amusement. When she nearly dropped it, Maria sheepishly placed the pumpkin on the floor beside her feet.

"Yes, but not a balancing challenge, Maria," Sarah Jane smiled as she brought in some buckets and knives into the attic. "Mr Smith, I need you."

As usual, Mr Smith made his entrance in typical fanfare mode, both impressing and surprising the gang. He did however seem a little surprised with being summoned by his mistress though.

"I have a challenge for you," Sarah Jane said as she pointed at the pumpkin. "Care to do a little judging?"

"Feeling a little bored, are we?" Mr Smith asked, with a slight tinge of flippancy in his tone but the look on Sarah Jane's face kept him on track. "What am I supposed to be judging?"

"We're going to carve out the scariest looking faces onto these pumpkins and it's up to you to pick a winner." Sarah Jane turned to Luke, Clyde and Maria. "Starting now."

"This should be interesting," Mr Smith replied drily as Sarah Jane and the kids sat at a cleared away table and began to get to work on the pumpkins.

From what Luke knew of Halloween, it was a time when scary things came alive but there wasn't so much, monster wise that scared Luke. Still, it didn't stop Luke from visualising a thought and getting to work on the pumpkin, carving carefully the image of something he couldn't get out of his head in recent memory.

Maria had looked upon everyone else's work with an impressive streak and soon did the same thing – closing her eyes for a brief moment before finally coming up with an image that would adorn her pumpkin.

Clyde thought about many of the cool things he had seen in comics and some of the cool things he had designed in his own comics but he couldn't help but find himself swayed by the clear level of thinking that Luke and Maria had placed into their ones and went down a similar path as his friends did.

Sarah Jane had known exactly what she was going to do from the start, so clearly it was in her head and while Clyde, Luke and Maria were arguably faster than her, she was a lot more careful and had a level of finesse to hers, which in the end didn't matter when Mr Smith uttered two very simple words.

"Time's up." Mr Smith interrupted as Sarah Jane and the kids stopped what they were doing and Mr Smith turned to his first candidate. "Luke, would you like to go first?"

"Okay." Luke picked up the pumpkin, showing it to everyone and Mr Smith. "It's the Bane in it's purest of forms."

For a moment, there was an air of discomfort as Sarah Jane's mind flashbacked to how she became Luke's mother in the first place.

"Very precise," Mr Smith commented before turning his attention to the next candidate. "Clyde, and your pumpkin is?"

"Slitheen of course." Clyde had a sense of pride in his masterpiece. "I think I got the teeth just about right."

"Yeah, if they were vampires," Maria replied teasingly as she felt that Mr Smith was watching her. "My turn next?"

"If you please," Mr Smith said simply.

"Well, I could've gone the same way as Luke and Clyde but I think the Gorgon was a lot scarier looking than the Bane or Slitheen," Maria smiled when she showed the pumpkin to everyone. "So, that's my one."

"And Sarah Jane?" Mr Smith asked as he noticed that she seemed a little distracted. "I don't believe your pumpkin seems to have eyes."

"Yes, it does," Clyde observed Sarah Jane's pumpkin. "Well, four of them and an odd looking mouth."

"They're not eyes," Maria said, looking closer at the pumpkin itself, before realising. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Mum?" Luke asked as he looked at the pumpkin as well.

"You're all right, it's not a monster," Sarah Jane said. "I thought about doing something that was scary but also wonderful at the same time and the TARDIS came to me."

"That's what the Doctor's spaceship looks like?" Clyde picked up Sarah Jane's pumpkin and looked on in awe. "Even I'll admit defeat to this."

"How modest," Luke said drily. "That is the correct term for sarcasm?"

"And what makes you think you've won this challenge?" Maria raised an eyebrow at Clyde, who placed Sarah Jane's pumpkin down.

"Before World War Three breaks out in front of my attic, Mr Smith, who exactly did win the challenge?" Sarah Jane asked her supercomputer.

"Winner unknown," Mr Smith said cheekily before shutting himself down. "Ask again next Halloween."

"Mr Smith," Sarah Jane called half-heartedly as the machine was now completely shut. She turned to the kids. "I guess we're all winners for this occasion."

"Works for me," Clyde smiled as he looked around at all the pumpkins. "Maybe we should put some candles in them."

"I'll see if I can find," Sarah Jane said as she headed downstairs to the kitchen. "Won't be a tick."

Alone in her kitchen for a moment, Sarah Jane looked up at the sky and wondered what the Doctor was doing, where in all of time and space he was visiting with Martha. Sarah Jane wagered that wherever it was, he was having the time of his lives and while her Halloween had been quiet, it was still one of the better ones she had in a long time. Picking up the candles, Sarah Jane headed back upstairs to her new family.

- The End -


End file.
